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Discrimination / Harassment

Jury to decide Michigan professor’s anti-Gay bias suit

04/10/2008
A Lansing Circuit Court judge has ruled that a jury trial is in order in the case of a discrimination lawsuit filed in 2005 by Peter Hammer, a former professor at the University of Michigan Law School. Hammer claims he was denied tenure because he is openly gay …

Top 5 mistakes employers make and how to avoid them

04/10/2008

Poor communications with employees isn’t just bad for business. It also creates a work environment that’s ripe for legal trouble. Stay out of the courtroom by taking time to explain your actions and make the workplace seem rational to employees. Here’s how.

Pigeonholing employees’ race can be tricky … and risky

04/09/2008
Exactly what is race? And who is a member of a protected class based on race? Does the color of one’s skin count more than the country of origin? Those are some of the questions a federal appeals court recently tackled …

Don’t hesitate to discipline a rude and insubordinate employee

04/09/2008
Nothing disrupts the workplace like a rude and nasty employee—especially one who thinks she’s smarter than everybody else and constantly tries to show it by criticizing co-workers and others. To stop the damage, you may have to act firmly, even if that means the employee may sue. If you back your actions with solid evidence, chances are a judge will throw out the case …

Objective promotion process makes retaliation claim harder

04/09/2008
Imagine how awkward it would be to have an employee sue her employer and then stay on the job. There’s a real danger that the worker will become supersensitive to workplace slights. She may think every comment is meant to punish her for the lawsuit—and that every thwarted promotion request is direct retaliation …

Beware firing after worker calls hotline

04/09/2008
If an employee calls the company discrimination hotline to report alleged wrongdoing while you are in the process of disciplining her, think twice before you fire her. Make certain your underlying reasons are rock-solid. Otherwise, you risk an immediate retaliation lawsuit …

Man loses sexual harassment suit against DHS

04/09/2008
A federal jury rejected a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) by Carlos Estes, a former employee who claimed he was fired for refusing his boss’s sexual advances …

Spa manager’s personal style rubbed staff the wrong way

04/09/2008
Lisa Cristia worked as a massage therapist and later as a department manager for Red Door Spa in Chicago. She was fired for breaching the company’s rules of conduct, including using her position as a manager to coerce and harass employees. Cristia sued, alleging disability discrimination …

$24M settlement ends Walgreens’ discrimination suit

04/09/2008
A federal judge has approved a settlement between Walgreens and a class of roughly 10,000 former and present employees who sued the retailer for race discrimination. The lawsuit alleged Deerfield-based Walgreens assigned black managers, management trainees and pharmacists to low-performing stores and denied them promotions based on their race …

Clear, open promotion policies key to litigation-Free decisions

04/08/2008
The reality of the modern workplace is that at any given time, someone is going to be unhappy. Promotions may not come. Resentment may arise from working with employees from many racial, ethnic or religious backgrounds. Simply put, it’s next to impossible to prevent all discrimination claims. You can, however, minimize the risk of being sued by developing clear and open workplace and promotion policies …