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Discrimination / Harassment

Call a halt to ‘dead-naming’ of transgender employees

11/13/2024
Employers are responsible for stopping gender-based harassment. Remind supervisors that harassing transgender workers is a serious offense.

OK to place reasonable limits on religious accommodations

11/13/2024
Employers must reasonably accommodate employees’ religious needs, but there are limits.

Religious accommodation request? Here’s what not to ask

11/13/2024
After the Supreme Court’s Groff v. DeJoy religious-accommodation case that strictly limited when employers can turn down requests, some employers demanded details about professed religious beliefs and documentation that the request was based on their religion’s requirement. But that is backfiring as courts set strict standards on how much information employers can demand.

Making even a few ageist statements can land you in court

11/13/2024
Here’s a reminder that HR needs to train supervisors and managers on ageist attitudes and comments. Even one or two isolated comments that could be viewed as criticism based on an employee’s age can be enough to justify an Age Discrimination in Employment Act lawsuit if there are other indications of favoring the young.

Harassment cost employer $3 million—and the harasser $835,000

10/25/2024
Juries tend to harshly punish employers that ignore harassment complaints and let the abuse continue. But occasionally, a jury decides it’s not enough to punish the employer; they punish the harasser, too.

On the Supreme Court docket: Cases to watch in the ‘24–‘25 term

10/21/2024
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear three important employment-law cases in its 2024–2025 term, which began Oct. 7 and will end in late June 2025.

Tolerate boss’s racist behavior, retaliation? Prepare to pay millions in damages

10/16/2024
If you need a reason to stamp out workplace name-calling, discriminatory work assignments and retaliation, consider the massive punitive-damages award a jury recently granted to an employee who sued because of ongoing racist behavior by a supervisor.

Fed agencies by the numbers for FY 2024

10/15/2024
The EEOC, National Labor Relations Board and OSHA have released new statistics on their activities during federal fiscal year 2024, which ran from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024.

Ban numerical goals, quotas from efforts to diversify

10/15/2024
Studies show that employers with diverse workforces outperform homogenous organizations on such important measures as innovation, revenue and profitability. However, employers intent on fostering diversity must do it in a way that doesn’t discriminate against any specific group of applicants or employees.

Disciplining for harassment? Ensure it’s even-handed

10/10/2024
When disciplining workers for harassing co-workers, make sure the punishment isn’t disproportionate and that you can show similarly situated workers were punished the same way.