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Discrimination / Harassment

Fresh start good for everyone

06/01/2010
Have you faced a situation where you weren’t sure whether an employee had been unfairly treated by a supervisor? When doubts arise, it’s sometimes best to offer the employee a fresh start. But if the old problems resurface and you end up terminating the employee, chances are a court will view the employee as the problem.

Employment law by the numbers: Know which laws you can ignore

06/01/2010

Employers must stay abreast of an alphabet soup of federal laws—ADA, ADEA, FMLA and so forth—each with its own requirements. To comply, you first must know which laws apply to your business, based on the number of people you employ. Here’s how to tell which laws affect your workplace … and which ones you can safely ignore.

Pre-Employment Testing

06/01/2010

HR Law 101: Many organizations use pre-employment tests to screen applicants. But be aware of the risks involved. Unless you can demonstrate that a test measures job-related qualities and fulfills a business necessity, you could be exposing your organization to charges of discrimination …

Professional Building Systems settles racial harassment case

05/28/2010
Mount Gilead-based Professional Building Systems will pay 12 black employees $118,000 to settle charges of racial harassment. According to the EEOC, which brokered the agreement, six workers filed the initial complaint and six more experienced the same harassment.

Unexpected bias worry: denial of training

05/28/2010

Remind bosses that everyone who is qualified for training should have access to development opportunities, and that hand-selecting subordinates to attend training can be discrimination. Note: Be sure they understand that older employees are also entitled to training—even if it seems reasonable that they may quit or retire soon.

Set equitable system for assigning overtime–it’s an essential defense against bias claims

05/28/2010
Do you have a system that allows all employees in the same job category an equal shot at earning overtime pay? If not, consider setting up a fair system for distributing that extra work. Otherwise, you may find yourself facing a discrimination lawsuit.

Cut no slack just because employee won award

05/27/2010
Sometimes, good employees go bad. Quite often, employers that suddenly have to terminate an employee who had been doing a great job find themselves on the losing end of a discrimination lawsuit. There’s one way to show bias played no part in the decision: Document the employee’s unacceptable behavior.

Disabled worker seem OK with ribbing? Beware!

05/27/2010

It’s sad but true: Disabled people are sometimes the butt of jokes at work. Whether the disability is obvious or the disabled employee lets co-workers know about his condition, you can expect somebody to say something inappropriate. Of course, some comments might be good-natured teasing. That doesn’t mean you should tolerate it.

Warn bosses: E-mail is smoking-gun evidence

05/27/2010

The risk isn’t new—e-mail has been around for a while. But managers and supervisors still continue to play fast and loose with their e-comments. E-mail messages are increasingly finding their way into employment-law court battles. Remind managers in the hiring process that it’s typically better to pick up the phone or walk down the hall to discuss a candidate than it is to send an e-mail.

It cuts both ways: Men as sexual harassment victims

05/26/2010

Sexual harassment is often a product of the power and control the harasser wields over the victim because of his or her relative position in the company, regardless of gender. But juries that might quickly side with a female victim sometimes find it difficult to sympathize with a man who has been harmed by harassment. That’s no excuse for employers to take lightly the sexual harassment of men.