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Discrimination / Harassment

Advice to ‘put on big girl panties’ backfires

06/24/2021
When fielding a workplace harassment complaint, it may be tempting to suggest the alleged victim try to resolve the matter herself instead of filing a full-blown complaint with HR. That’s a terrible idea.

Warn interviewers not to ask loaded questions

06/24/2021
Train hiring managers to avoid asking intrusive, irrelevant and potentially illegal questions during job interviews. Loaded questions can spur a lawsuit if the candidate isn’t hired—and jurors may conclude the questions are smoking-gun evidence that proves discrimination.

Report: Wage gaps between races continue to widen

06/22/2021
Wage disparities between Black and White workers have increased in the last 10 years, even for people with otherwise comparable backgrounds and qualifications, according to a new study by The Conference Board business research organization.

Be alert to new legal risk: vaccine-status harassment

06/17/2021
Harassing a co-worker because of his or her unvaccinated status might cross the line into unlawful protected-class harassment. In that case, an employer might have honest-to-goodness liability for allowing such harassment to continue uncorrected.

Paycheck Fairness Act stalls, lacking Senate votes

06/17/2021
Legislation that would amend the Equal Pay Act to make it easier to sue for sex-based pay discrimination won’t become law this year, failing to win the backing of 60 senators necessary to overcome a filibuster.

HR pros gain broad Title VII protection

06/17/2021
A recent federal appeals court decision may be good news for HR pros and bad news for employers that think they can get away with retaliation if they try to quash discrimination investigations.

Same-sex harassment may include nonsexual behavior

06/10/2021
Don’t ignore a sexual harassment complaint just because the workplace consists of members of a single sex and there’s no claim that the harasser was seeking sexual favors.

Monitor all facilities for racist harassment

06/03/2021
It’s hard to monitor everything that goes on when your company has far-flung operations, but it’s essential to keep tabs on—and put a stop to—conduct that could trigger a costly lawsuit. Two joint employers recently learned that lesson the hard way and will pay $2 million for their mistake.

Half have experienced or seen race bias at work

06/01/2021
Nearly 50% of employees surveyed said they have been a victim of race discrimination at work or witnessed it during the past 12 months, according to a Harris poll taken in May on the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder.

Supreme Court won’t hear racial slur case

06/01/2021
Can employers be liable for the single use of an offensive word? A disgruntled employee wanted the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on that question, but justices on May 17 declined to take his case.