Here’s some good news: An employee’s interpretation of a manager’s facial expressions isn’t enough for a successful lawsuit. A smirk isn’t evidence.

An Iowa jury has awarded 32 men with intellectual disabilities the largest verdict in EEOC history—$240 million for 20 years of disability discrimination and abuse.

Two bills introduced in the House and Senate would ban employment discrimination against gay and transgender employees and expand their FMLA rights.

Q. Our company has been having financial difficulties and we have considered reorganizing for several months. Our chief operating officer has been charged with determining whether any of the current jobs can be eliminated. Recently, before any final reorganization decisions were made, an employee came forward claiming that the COO had been harassing her and had created a hostile work environment ...

If you’re a federal contractor or subcontractor, now’s a good time to make sure your compensation practices are free from race, sex or age discrimination. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has ramped up its investi­­gation tactics to root out compensation discrimination.

Make sure your supervisors realize that their off-hand remarks about employees’ protected characteristics—age, race, gender, religion, disability—could someday appear in a courtroom on giant laminated posters as part of an employee’s discrimination lawsuit.

A Pennsylvania-based energy-industry staffing firm has agreed to pay $190,000 to a black former employee to settle charges that a foreman har­­assed and physically abused the man because of his race.

Controversial amendments to New York City’s Human Rights Act take effect June 11, allowing job applicants to sue for discrimination against a new protected class: the unemployed.

You can’t prevent all sexual har­­assment, but you can do plenty to avoid liability when it does happen, at least when the harasser is a co-worker. Start with a clear anti-harassment policy, and make sure everyone under­­stands it.

Some things are best left unsaid. That includes any comments about how hard it must be for a mother to have a career and raise children. Tell managers to keep the topic out of their office chitchat.

Here’s an important reminder for senior executives: If an employee says she will sue for discrimination unless her evaluation is changed, don’t punish her supervisor if he refuses to go along. That could amount to retaliation for protected activity—meaning you could have two lawsuits on your hands.

The Texas Senate is considering a bill that would ban discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered employees and job applicants. Introduced by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, S.B. 237 would prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

If an employee chooses to return to work in a hostile environment, that makes it much harder to successfully sue for harassment.

In some rare cases, employers can win a case in which they disciplined or terminated an employee for illegal reasons. Usually, the employer has to pay the employee’s legal costs. But it’s been an open question whether that’s true in “mixed-motive” retaliation cases. Now the 5th Circuit has clarified that the em­­ployer isn’t on the hook for em­­ployee attorneys’ fees.

A federal jury has awarded two former employees of Concord trucking firm A.C. Widenhouse more than $243,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. The EEOC had filed the suit on behalf of two black em­­ployees who complained of pervasive bigotry and harassment at work.