• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Discrimination / Harassment

Seek attorney’s help to craft arbitration agreements that will keep you out of court

09/19/2014
A California appeals court has ruled that it’s up to the arbitrator handling a dispute to determine if the arbitration agreement allows class-action arbitration.

EEOC sues Minneapolis manufacturer for disability bias

09/17/2014
A Minneapolis conveyor-belt company faces a disability discrimination suit after it allegedly refused to rehire an employee after he had a heart attack.

Tire company puts equal pay dispute in rear-view mirror

09/17/2014
A female HR director delivered St. Cloud-based Royal Tire a kick when she sued the company for an Equal Pay Act violation.

Careful how often you suggest retirement

09/17/2014
Remind bosses: Be careful how you approach discussing potential retirement plans. Asking too often or in a way that’s not business-related may precipitate an age discrimination lawsuit if the employee loses her job or is demoted after such conversations.

Court won’t toss case over strict 90-day filing limit

09/17/2014
When the EEOC issues a so-called “right to sue” letter, the recipient has just 90 days to file a federal lawsuit. But courts are increasingly reluctant to dismiss cases filed within a few days of the deadline.

There’s rude and then there’s harassment: Simple slights won’t cost you in court

09/17/2014
Rudeness is likely to sneak into the workplace no matter how many civility rules you post. Unless the behavior is clearly abusive or obviously offensive to a protected class, don’t lose too much sleep over a potential lawsuit.

Slurs followed by firing? Get a lawyer!

09/17/2014
Here’s a surefire way to spur a lawsuit and ensure it goes to trial: Just fire an employee who has been the target of her boss’s racial slurs.

22% of workforce covered by ban on transgender bias

09/10/2014
According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, which tracks gay-rights issues in the workplace, more than a fifth of U.S. workers will be covered by the Department of Labor’s August announcement that it will interpret prohibitions on sex discrimination in a recent Obama administration executive order to include discrimination based on gender identity and transgender status.

Can workplace cliques be proof of racial discrimination?

09/09/2014
You may think that what employees do in the breakroom or at post-work happy hours is their own business. That could be an expensive mistake.

‘Onionhead’ religion? Who’s crying now?

09/08/2014
Federal law says employees “cannot be forced to participate in a religious activity as a condition of employment.” And while most such lawsuits involve Bibles on desks or crosses around necks, a new religious harassment case centers around vegetables.