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Discrimination / Harassment

Receptionist delivers messages from hell

05/13/2008
Zachary Winspear joined Community Development, Inc. (CDI), a property management company in Golden Valley, as a personal assistant to company president Charles Schneider. As the two grew close, Winspear confided to Schneider that his brother had committed suicide …

Effort to Extend Statute of Limitations on Pay-Bias Lawsuits Fails in Congress

05/12/2008
Federal anti-discrimination law gives employees either 180 or 300 days (depending on the state they live in) to file an employment discrimination claim with the EEOC. Pro-employee legislation that aimed to extend that limit much further failed in Congress this month.

Duty differences, experience enough to defeat equal pay claim

05/12/2008
The Equal Pay Act was passed to ensure that women are paid the same as men for substantially equal work. The law does allow for differences based on any factor “other than sex,” but you must be prepared to explain pay differentials in a way that clearly demonstrates why two employees in the same job receive different wages …

Put a lid on workplace trash talk that demeans women

05/12/2008
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has just expanded employee rights in alleged sexual harassment cases. The court has ruled that sexually explicit language that tends to demean women can be the basis of a sexual harassment and hostile work environment claim even if the language is not aimed at a particular woman …

Investigating sexual harassment? Ask victim whether she’s told HR everything

05/12/2008
Sexual harassment investigations can be embarrassing for everyone, including the alleged victim. But in order to conduct a fair and impartial investigation, HR must know exactly what happened. You don’t want to get part of the story, only to find out later that there was more …

Jury awards $5.8 million verdict for age discrimination

05/12/2008
A former employee of Ernie Haire Ford who claimed the dealership fired him because of his age won a $5.8 million verdict in Hillsborough Circuit Court …

BJ’s warehouse store settles $100K discrimination suit

05/12/2008
BJ’s Wholesale Club will pay $100,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit. The manager of the company’s Homestead store, who is Cuban-American, allegedly subjected a black employee and a Puerto Rican employee to numerous racial slurs …

Don’t consider pending lawsuits when making hiring decisions

05/09/2008
Don’t bar former employees who have sued the company from applying and being hired for new jobs. Doing so almost certainly invites a retaliation lawsuit—one that courts are likely to find in favor of the former employee.

Sexist remarks plus denied opportunities can add up to a hostile environment

05/09/2008
Supervisors may subject their employers to hostile-environment liability if they make snide comments that can be interpreted as anti-female and then deny even minor opportunities for a woman to do the job she was hired to perform. It’s a case of many small indignities adding up to sex discrimination …

Noose in the news

05/09/2008
The manager and two employees of a Bay City Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon were fired after allegedly hanging a noose in view of a black cook. The employees reportedly let the noose hang for four days before taking it down …