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Discrimination / Harassment

Timely documentation: Your best legal defense

07/18/2019
What’s the best thing employers can do to win more lawsuits? Document every workplace decision contemporaneously, at the time you make it.

Poor review alone isn’t enough to win lawsuit

07/11/2019
Employees generally must show they suffered an adverse employment action before they can win a discrimination lawsuit. Merely receiving a poor evaluation, without other consequences, isn’t enough.

On World Cup bandwagon, NY enacts equal pay laws

07/11/2019
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo chose an apt setting to sign legislation mandating equal pay for substantially equal work, regardless of an employee’s protected class.

Equal pay: Document how and why jobs differ

07/11/2019
The Equal Pay Act requires employers to pay members of each sex the same for performing work that is substantially the same. The only way for an employer to defend an EPA lawsuit is to prove that the jobs aren’t substantially similar—or that the pay difference is attributable to some factor other than sex.

Focus reviews on performance, not emotions

07/09/2019
When you evaluate an employee who isn’t living up to performance expectations, avoid commenting on her emotional state. Focus on objective criteria like unmet goals or sales quotas. Otherwise, you risk a lawsuit claiming discrimination on the basis of disability.

Summer brings new employment laws

07/03/2019
It’s summer and that means long breaks for state and local legislatures. Before going on vacation, however, many of those legislatures pushed through new laws that go into effect during the dog days of summer. Here are a few.

Soon to be banned in California: Bias based on hairstyle

07/03/2019
On June 27, the California Assembly passed Senate Bill 188, which broadens the definition of “race” in California’s anti-discrimination law to include “traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles.”

EEOC national-origin bias suit cost $650,000 to settle

07/02/2019
Pape Material Handling, a Fresno company that sells, rents and services forklifts, has agreed to pay $650,000 to settle EEOC claims that it discriminated on the basis of national origin.

Prepare for possibility of a lawsuit by documenting every HR decision you make

07/02/2019
You can never know which unhappy employee is going to sue you, or for what reason. That’s why it’s so important to document every HR decision and action. The more details you can include in your records, the better off you will be if an employee decides to sue.

Court: Merely being transferred to a new location isn’t enough to support a lawsuit

07/02/2019
Employers have the right to manage their workplaces. That includes moving personnel where the employer needs coverage. Such a transfer, under similar conditions and with the same pay and benefits, isn’t an adverse employment action.