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Discrimination / Harassment

Handle with care if older employee’s performance slips

09/02/2008
When some employees approach retirement, they begin to coast. They may think that there’s no way their employer will let them go at their age, assuming management will be afraid of an Age Discrimination in Employment case. The truth is, that worker isn’t untouchable. Here’s how to handle the situation when you discover the employee is still coming to work but has mentally retired …

Go ahead! Fire if worker sneaks confidential docs to EEOC

09/02/2008
Employees who file EEOC complaints may assume they can rifle through company files looking for smoking-gun evidence of discrimination. Bad move. Employers don’t have to put up with such outrageous antics—if they have the right policies in place …

Grant maternity leave just as generously as you do other leave

09/02/2008
When it comes to maternity or childbirth leave, women have at least two federal laws that protect them from possible discrimination: the FMLA and the Pregnancy Discimination Act. Employers who understand that the FMLA and the PDA work together aren’t likely to make mistakes that result in lawsuits …

Investigate to find truth behind discrimination complaints

09/02/2008
Sometimes a supervisor targets the members of protected classes for poor treatment. But what looks like discrimination sometimes isn’t. Employers can learn the truth—and often protect themselves from liability—by holding off on discipline until after HR has conducted a thorough, independent investigation …

Can I use several criteria for whom to lay off?

09/02/2008

Q. I need to lay off some staff. I was going to select some based on the fact that they were the most recently hired. I was also going to select others who were hired earlier, retaining some who were hired in between the two groups. Is that permitted? …

Beware referral programs that attract new hire ‘clones’

08/28/2008
Your employee referral program could backfire if it leads to too many employees who are alike in terms of sex, race, age or other protected characteristics. Follow these tips to strengthen and diversify your referral program.

Take proactive steps to ensure harassment doesn’t escalate

08/27/2008
Be sure to take it seriously when employees come forward with sexual harassment complaints. Ignoring their complaints could embolden the harassers. To prevent such an unnecessary escalation, make sure you visit the work site and talk to everyone. Check for telltale signs of harassment, such as offensive posters or jokes on bulletin boards …

Differing male and female grooming standards may signal opening for religious accommodation

08/27/2008
Some religions prohibit men from cutting their hair. That can conflict with company grooming standards that set different limits on how long male and female employees may wear their hair. Generally, courts allow such differences … Even so, a man whose religion says he cannot cut his hair may have a religious discrimination case.

Act fast to stop co-Worker harassment

08/27/2008
The key to winning co-worker harassment cases is to show that you took swift, just and effective action as soon as you learned about the harassment. The following case proves that’s a winning strategy …

Pittsburgh scientist says government axed him for speaking his mind

08/27/2008
Abdel Moniem Ali El-Ganayni, a nuclear physicist, has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), claiming it revoked his security clearance and fired him because of his ethnicity, his Muslim faith and his criticism of the war in Iraq …