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Discrimination / Harassment

Never tie performance problems to disability

01/26/2015
Warn supervisors that they should never link an employee’s performance deficiencies to a supposed disability. The focus should be strictly on what the employee has or hasn’t accomplished and how that compares to your standards—not on possible underlying reasons for success or failure.

EEOC launches harassment panel

01/26/2015
The EEOC has established a task force to identify strategies to prevent workplace harassment, according to incoming EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang, who presided over her first commission meeting on Jan. 14.

Does our lactation room need a lock?

01/21/2015
Q. An employee will be returning from maternity leave next month. She has indicated she intends to express milk during her breaks. We have a room that is rarely used that seems perfect but it does not have a lock. Will this suffice?

Trucking company won’t collect fees from EEOC

01/21/2015
The EEOC has won a reduction of a large attorneys’ fee award it had been ordered to pay for an allegedly frivolous lawsuit.

Employee’s discrimination complaint shouldn’t derail legitimate discipline

01/21/2015
Some employees think they can keep from getting fired by going to HR or the EEOC with a discrimination complaint. Then, they reason, if their employer does terminate them, it will be retaliation. Fortunately, that’s not true.

Justice Dept. expands sex bias protections

01/21/2015
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it will interpret the ban on sex discrimination in the Civil Rights Act’s Title VII to include gender identity. The Department of Justice may not bring actions against private employers, but can enforce the new interpretation against state and local governments.

Boss behaving badly? Maybe not harassment

01/21/2015
Employers should certainly strive to make their workplaces as pleasant and harassment-free as possible. But, sometimes supervisors make that almost impossible because they can’t refrain from acting like jerks.

After firing boss accused of harassment, zip your lips

01/15/2015
If a court concludes that one of your supervisors created a hostile work environment, you probably don’t want to retain him. But don’t go overboard with the explanations.

Ask court to limit claims when employee acts as his or her own lawyer

01/15/2015
Good news for employers that are sued by pro se litigants—employees who act as their own lawyers. Courts really don’t want to waste time on cases that no attorney has seen fit to take on. However, they also don’t want to let lack of legal representation sink an otherwise solid claim.

Minneapolis rated best city for LGBT protection

01/15/2015
Minneapolis earned the top spot in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual rankings of American cities with local laws and policies that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from dis­­crimi­­na­­tion. Minneapolis scored a perfect 100 on the gay-rights advocacy organization’s scale.