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Discrimination / Harassment

Ford to pay $10 million to settle EEOC harassment charges

08/22/2017
Ford Motor Company has agreed to pay $10.125 million to settle EEOC charges of sex and race harassment against a group of employees at two Ford plants in Illinois.

Never mention workers’ ages when discussing reduction in force

08/21/2017
What not to do when closing down offices in which workers are older than the company average: Mention that eventually you may be able to hire younger replacements at lower cost. That’s just asking for a lawsuit.

White hood was a joke? No one’s laughing now

08/17/2017
When Kenneth, who is black, complained that his co-workers used a white hood to harass and intimidate him, management told him the incident was meant as a joke.

Ensure training programs are equal opportunity

08/13/2017
Make training available to everyone who may benefit. Be sure there’s no hidden bias behind choosing who gets to take part. If members of a protected class routinely miss out, expect a lawsuit.

Court: State and federal law are not mutually exclusive

08/09/2017
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Minnesota employers, has revived a lawsuit against a union for allegedly violating a state disability discrimination law.

Religion accommodation not protected … yet

08/09/2017
In a case likely to be appealed, the EEOC has lost a bid to have federal courts within the 8th Circuit consider request for religious accommodation to be protected activity.

Include it in management training: You just can’t use racial slurs!

08/03/2017
Make sure every boss understands that they may never utter obviously racially offensive slurs at work. Even one instance can, under the wrong circumstances, trigger a lawsuit.

Staffing patterns don’t prove workplace bias

08/03/2017
Some employees think that if they point out racial homogeneity in a particular office or function, they will be able to persuade a court that they have been discriminated against—even if they have no proof that anything bad happened to them.

Doubt cast on spousal benefits for same-sex couples

08/03/2017
The Texas Supreme Court on June 30 threw out a lower court ruling that said spouses of gay and lesbian public employees are entitled to government-subsidized same-sex marriage benefits.

Mandatory training isn’t act of discrimination

08/03/2017
It’s unusual, but sometimes workers claim that being forced to attend a training session was discrimination.