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Discrimination / Harassment

NJLAD now requires greater accommodation of religious beliefs

03/01/2008
The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination recently was expanded to require employers to reasonably accommodate employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs. Under the new rules, employers must make a “bona fide effort” to accommodate religious practices unless they can show that doing so will pose an “undue hardship” on their businesses …

Sexual harassment settlement not part of the public record

03/01/2008
Monmouth County does not have to dish up the details of its settlement with traffic engineer Carol Melnick over sexual harassment charges, State Superior Court Judge Jamie Perri has ruled …

The NJLAD’s fee-Shifting provision: A ray of hope for employers

03/01/2008

Harassment and retaliation claims are on the rise in workplaces across the country. Some cases are legitimate, but many are not. They’re brought by employees seeking to have a court rule on trivial workplace disputes that have no sufficient factual or legal basis. Now there’s a ray of hope for employers that have been victimized by such frivolous lawsuits …

Winning lawsuit no slam-Dunk when firing follows romance

03/01/2008
You will probably never be able to eliminate the downside risks of sexual relationships at work, no matter how many policies you draft. So what should HR do to prevent turmoil once a relationship has ended? Generally, the best policy is to leave well enough alone …

Even a pay increase can lead to discrimination charges

03/01/2008
Don’t think because an employee receives a raise, he or she can’t sue for discrimination. The fact is, an “inadequate” or “unequal” raise can be the basis of a discrimination lawsuit—if other employees outside the affected employee’s protected class got bigger and better raises …

Candidates who reapply get another chance to file discrimination complaints

03/01/2008
Think time will make a discrimination case go away? Think again. Even if you think a previous complaint has been resolved or run its course, a former applicant or employee who applies for another job can still sue for discrimination if she is again turned down …

Ball State to pay former hoops coach $200,000

03/01/2008
Former Ball State University basketball coach Ronny Thompson will receive $200,000 from the Muncie school to settle racial harassment and retaliation complaints …

Prison nurses say race, complaints led to firings

03/01/2008
Six black nurses have sued Nashville-based Corrections Corp. of America, which operates a prison annex for Marion County, alleging they were fired or forced to resign because of their race and because they complained about unsafe practices at the facility …

Effective evaluations are management tools, legal protection

03/01/2008

Ah, the “halo effect”—the practice of inflating an employee’s annual evaluation to increase overall morale and avoid the unpleasantness of telling underperforming workers what their weaknesses are. Too bad using the halo strategy both undermines performance and exposes employers to legal risks …

Make sure you fairly distribute dangerous assignments

03/01/2008
Are some assignments within your organization more dangerous than others?  Make sure you don’t dump those duties on members of a protected class. Instead, distribute those tasks evenly so no one can claim he or she was singled out for hazardous assignments because of race, national origin or some other protected characteristic …