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Discrimination / Harassment

How a boss’s Kwik-E-Mart trip cost $100K

04/27/2010

Employment law risks don’t disappear the minute your managers leave the building at the day’s end. Those risks follow managers around constantly. That’s why you should make clear to supervisors that they should never discuss personnel matters outside the workplace—even at the corner Kwik-E-Mart.

Firing a boss who’s racially insensitive? You can cite ‘poor performance’ as reason

04/23/2010
It often becomes apparent that managers who were supposed to prevent discrimination weren’t doing an effective job. For the good of the company, it’s sometimes necessary to fire those bosses for tolerating discrimination or harassment. And those managers will probably sue, too. Good news: You can cite their attitudes to show they weren’t performing their jobs to your reasonable expectations.

OK to punish employees for disruptive acts–even if done in the context of protesting bias

04/23/2010
Employees are protected from retaliation for opposing discriminatory employer practices. But that doesn’t mean they can voice that opposition in a disruptive or discourteous way.

‘Cold shoulder’ isn’t a hostile environment

04/22/2010
One of the reasons employees can claim sex discrimination is if, according to the EEOC, “verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature … creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.” Employees may believe that the slightest unkind word would constitute a hostile workplace, but courts often will set the bar much higher, as the following ruling shows.

No special treatment needed for pregnant staff

04/22/2010
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act doesn’t guarantee pregnant employees any special treatment in the workplace. It simply says you must treat them “the same as any other temporarily disabled employee.” If your organization doesn’t allow other employees to take leave or be placed in light-duty positions, then pregnant employees aren’t entitled to such privileges either.

¡Que chiste! Bilingual staffer fired for speaking Spanish

04/20/2010
When Ana Mateo was hired as a bilingual secretary for a school district, she never imagined her Spanish fluency would be her downfall. Now that the EEOC has taken up her case, somebody has some explaining to do — in federal court.

Use new EEOC guidance to review severance agreements

04/19/2010
Employers have a new primer from the EEOC on how to craft legally compliant severance agreements. Although Understanding Waivers of Discrimination Claims in Employee Severance Agreements was designed to answer employee questions about severance agreements, it offers useful guidance to employers, too.

Schwan’s must hand over demographic data in EEOC case

04/19/2010
Schwan’s, the Marshall-based frozen food company, must turn over data requested by the EEOC in a long-running sex discrimination case. Judge Janie Myeron ruled in favor of the EEOC’s subpoena requesting demographic data on employees who have entered the company’s management trainee program.

White Way says EEOC took it to the cleaners

04/19/2010

St. Paul-based White Way Dry Cleaners has paid $42,250 to a former employee who filed an EEOC pregnancy discrimination lawsuit. The case arose when Michelle Johnson was transferred from her job pressing clothes to a counter position after telling her bosses she was pregnant. White Way had a longstanding policy of transferring pregnant employees to protect them from chemicals used in the dry cleaning process.

Case dismissed? You may be able to recover attorneys’ fees

04/19/2010

You probably know that in many cases where the employee wins a discrimination lawsuit, the employer has to pay the employee’s attorney. Fortunately, the reverse may also be true—if you manage to win dismissal of a clearly frivolous claim.