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Minnesota

Beware even appearance of pregnancy bias

05/16/2018
Be careful how you react when an employee announces she is expecting. In the end, the employer won this pregnancy discrimination lawsuit, but defending against it cost huge legal fees and took up hundreds of hours.

Never base hiring decisions on stereotypes

05/16/2018
Here’s an important warning for managers with the power to influence hiring decisions: Repeating stereotypes about applicants invites discrimination lawsuits, as a recent case shows.

Alleged anti-gay bias at University of Minnesota – Duluth attracts more litigation

05/16/2018
Last month we reported that former University of Minnesota – Duluth women’s hockey coach Shannon Miller had finally prevailed in a years-long sex discrimination lawsuit. Now two more former employees are alleging the university discriminated against them on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Target pays $3.9 mil to settle background check lawsuit

05/15/2018
Retail giant Target has agreed to pay $3.9 million to settle a long-running discrimination suit alleging its policy of not hiring people with criminal convictions disproportionately affects black and Hispanic applicants.

Bookkeeper accused of embezzling to place online bets

04/25/2018
The bookkeeper for Farm Mercantile in Fairfax, Minn., faces five charges of filing false tax returns because she failed to report $266,333 in embezzled income. In all, she allegedly pocketed $535,000 from the hardware and farm supply store from 1998 to 2016.

Don’t let employee’s whistleblower status dissuade you from legitimate discipline

04/25/2018
To win a retaliation case, the worker would have to prove that the discipline was motivated by a desire to punish him or her for making the report. That’s unlikely to succeed if 1) the discipline began before the safety problem was reported or 2) it is clear that any other worker would have been disciplined for the same rule violation.

Emerging issues affect how to handle trade secrets

04/16/2018
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced plans to file criminal charges against employers that collude to fix wages or not hire one another’s workers under “nonpoaching agreements.” As a result, employers are more likely than ever to either have their trade secrets compromised or face liability for knowingly or unknowingly possessing a competitor’s confidential information.

Challenge based on arbitrator’s bias fails

04/16/2018
A federal court has concluded it doesn’t have the right to disqualify an arbitrator from hearing a case before a decision has been made. It’s another indication that courts aren’t eager to micromanage arbitrations.

The fact of pay bias matters, not what motivates it

04/16/2018
Employees suing under the Equal Pay Act who can prove that they held a substantially similar job but were paid less than a member of the opposite sex don’t have to prove that the employer intended to discriminate.

Employee fired shortly after filing complaint? Brace yourself for a retaliation lawsuit

04/16/2018
An employee who complains about perceived discrimination may be wrong, but filing a complaint still counts as protected activity. If she files an EEOC complaint or a lawsuit, firing her shortly after she complains is just asking for a retaliation claim.