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Discrimination / Harassment

Cuyahoga pays $100K to settle with gay former employee

01/06/2012
Former government employee Shari Hutchison has settled her discrimination complaint against Cuyahoga County for $100,000 after winning a landmark decision for gay and lesbian workers.

Threatening suspension could be retaliation

01/06/2012
Warn bosses: Threatening someone with discipline may be retaliation.

Solid record-keeping is the key! Document pay criteria to shoot down EPA cases

01/06/2012

Employers are free to pay em­­ployees different rates based on training, experience and education. You’ll be fine as long as you can justify your pay criteria. However, an employee’s sex is never a legitimate differentiator.

In RIF, use same criteria you use for hiring

01/06/2012

Sometimes, layoffs are inevitable, something that’s always hard—and often a legal minefield. Get it wrong and your attorneys’ fees can easily exceed the labor costs you hoped to save. Decide who should go in much the same way you decide who should fill a new position.

Worker makes threats? That’s a firing offense

01/06/2012

Some employees are simply difficult to manage. They start argu­­ments and may see harassment or discrimination everywhere. But sometimes they cross a line, implying they could get violent. How you handle their complaints can spell the difference between winning and losing a lawsuit.

2012 enforcement trends in employment law: hiring and safety

01/05/2012
We’re now well into the first quarter of the year and already a few trends are becoming apparent in the way the federal government will enforce labor and employment laws in 2012. Two significant em­­phases will be hiring discrimination and workplace safety.

Ex-NBA cop claims firing was retaliation

01/05/2012

Looks like the National Basketball Association will make up for time lost to the lockout by playing on both the basketball and legal courts for the next few months. A former NBA security official claims his firing last summer was retaliation for reporting sexual harassment incidents.

Lawsuit against theater says bias was all in the family

01/05/2012
To prove age discrimination, a fired employee must be age 40 or older and show that she was replaced by someone under 40 who was less qualified. Marcy Starnes, who managed the Carmel Cinema in Putnam County, didn’t have to look far to find her replacement. It was her daughter.

$16M suit could require lots of cuts for trendy NYC salon

01/05/2012
A hairdresser who once worked at Manhattan’s trendy Devachan has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the hair salon, where cuts go for $300. It’s a big one, too: She’s seeking $16 million!

Mere ‘association’ with a disabled person doesn’t trigger need to accommodate

01/05/2012

A federal court has shot down an employee’s claim that he should have received an accommodation because of his association with a disabled individual. That’s good news, as it nixes time off to care for a disabled individual if the employee isn’t otherwise eligible for FMLA leave.