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Discrimination / Harassment

Serial harasser moved … and brought harassment with him

05/06/2008
Dillard’s, the Arkansas-based department store chain, has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle an EEOC lawsuit on behalf of 12 female former employees who were sexually harassed by an assistant store manager in two states …

Kids will be kids: Inappropriate workplace behavior and teenage workers

05/06/2008

Q. Some of our employees are teenagers who work part time while they go to school. Often, this is their first job. Some of them don’t seem to understand proper behavior in the work environment. They usually are OK with customers, but when they are interacting with each other, they give each other a hard time. Verbal put-downs and even physical acts are common. Does this create any potential problems? …

Congress OKs New Genetic Bias Law—What’s it Mean for HR?

05/06/2008
Congress just passed the nation’s first federal law prohibiting employers and insurance companies from discriminating against individuals on the basis of genetic information, a protection critics have called “a remedy in search of a problem.” Find out what the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act prohibits, and why some believe it could cause trouble for employers.

Make sure investigation process doesn’t defame employee

05/05/2008
As an employer, you are obligated to investigate employee harassment and discrimination claims. How you handle those investigations can determine whether you’ll have to prepare for later lawsuits. The problem: allegations that you defamed someone while conducting the investigation …

Track discipline to show equal treatment for all workers

05/05/2008
Insist that managers tell HR when they issue any form of discipline, even an oral warning. That way, there’s a record that you can later use to explain why it only looks like a discharged employee was punished more harshly than others who committed the same offense …

Use business necessity as rationale for pre-Employment exams

05/05/2008
Does your hiring process build in safeguards to prevent inadvertent disability discrimination? If you’re unsure, follow these guidelines for setting up the right process …

Minor workplace changes won’t lose discrimination case

05/05/2008
Supervisors often treat employees who have been known to complain about discrimination with kid gloves. But you should explain to managers and supervisors that only adverse employment actions can lead to lawsuits. Minor workplace changes probably won’t provide ammunition for yet another discrimination complaint …

Discharging ill employee for performance? Better make sure you can prove it

05/05/2008
Courts often suspect the worst when employers fire severely ill employees. A judge may bend over backward trying to find a way to help the employee. An employer that can’t offer concrete, solid and compelling reasons for the termination may very well find itself trying to defend a “regarded as disabled” lawsuit …

Even small differences can justify different treatment

05/05/2008
An employee sometimes will look for any reason to file a lawsuit—especially if she thinks she has been treated unfairly but doesn’t have any direct evidence. That’s one good reason for justifying all employment-related decisions …

Are there unusual protected statuses that can limit an employer’s right to terminate?

05/05/2008
Q. We know that it is unlawful to discriminate against employees on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, age and disability. Do any other protected classifications exist under Texas law that might limit an employer’s right to terminate a worker employed at will? …