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Discrimination / Harassment

Two employees involved in same incident? Punishment can differ if it’s not discriminatory

12/19/2011

If two employees break the same workplace rule, they should receive the same punishment. But that doesn’t mean you can’t distinguish between degrees of culpability. It’s perfectly fine to terminate an employee who has a long history of rule breaking and retain another because it’s a first offense.

San Francisco janitors reach accord to end bias suit

12/16/2011

The EEOC recently entered into a consent decree resolving a race discrimination lawsuit with ABM Industries. The federal agency sued the company in 2009, claiming it discriminated against Hispanic janitors who worked in San Francisco office buildings.

Harassment among the orchids yields settlement in Oxnard

12/16/2011
One of the largest orchid farms in the United States—Cyma Orchids in Oxnard—will pay $240,000 after the EEOC moved to root out an infestation of sexual harassment.

Simply failing to find work doesn’t prove defamation

12/16/2011
When employees are fired, they may have a hard time getting another job. Sometimes, they suspect their former employer is providing a bad reference. And often, a defamation lawsuit will follow.

Budget cuts forcing layoffs or reorganization? Take care to spell out justification

12/16/2011
If you must eliminate jobs, make sure you create a clear paper trail explaining why and how you made the decision to terminate a particular individual. That’s especially important if the employee had discrimination charges pending—or a history of filing them.

SoCal hotel steps up after firing autistic employee

12/16/2011
The EEOC and the Comfort Suites Hotel in Mission Valley have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of an autistic desk clerk who sought state assistance to perform his job but was fired instead. It’s a case that shows how the threat of litigation can sometimes result in greater good.

Warn bosses: No ‘association discrimination’

12/16/2011

The next time you conduct discrimination training, remind supervisors and managers that discriminating against an employee because of a spouse’s protected characteristic is just as illegal as direct discrimination. That’s what one federal agency has learned the hard way.

Get ready for a new federally protected class: the unemployed

12/14/2011
Employers may be surprised to learn there is a growing movement to add the unemployed to the list of people who belong to a protected class. If leaders in the U.S. Senate and the EEOC have their way, it may no longer be legal for em­­ployers to show a preference to hire only those who are currently employed.

SPFD, firefighter finally see eye-to-eye on settlement

12/14/2011

A long-running disability discrimination dispute between St. Paul firefighter William Eldridge and the city has finally been settled. Twice in the past seven years, the St. Paul Fire Department told Eldridge he would be terminated because his bad eyesight prevents him from fighting fires ,,,

Freeborn County worker blames firing on retribution, bias

12/14/2011
Did frank feedback about a boss’s shortcomings lead to a government worker’s firing? That’s what Rose Olmsted claims in a lawsuit she filed against the Freeborn County Com­­missioners and the county’s director of human services.