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Discrimination / Harassment

Independent investigation doesn’t have to be perfect

01/01/2008

If you receive a discrimination complaint, conduct a prompt and thorough investigation. Then have an independent party decide on any discipline. If the investigation was independent and the decision-maker was not the same person who allegedly discriminated against the employee, it won’t matter if the decision-maker was wrong—just that he or she believed the reason was genuine …

Even absent employees can claim harassment

01/01/2008

Even employees who are no longer working day to day in a hostile environment can sue for harassment. Every federal circuit appeals court that has considered the question has sided with the absent employees on the principle that a hostile work environment may extend beyond the physical workplace …

$1.27 million to BART worker for harassment, retaliation

01/01/2008

A California Superior Court jury has awarded a San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employee $1.27 million for racial harassment and retaliation …

Working around employees’ jury duty obligations

01/01/2008

Q. What are California employers’ obligations with regard to workers who are called to serve on a jury? We often find our schedules disrupted, especially when the employee on jury duty gets stuck on a long trial …

Do you know what your rogue supervisors are doing?

01/01/2008

It takes just one low-level manager or frontline supervisor to create havoc in the workplace. These people set the tone of workplace communications, and if that tone has sexual content, others are likely to follow the lead. That’s one good reason to make sure you do more than lecture on sexual harassment. Instead—especially if branch offices are located away from headquarters—HR should make spot visits to see whether anything is amiss …

Don’t discount cost of harassment lawsuit—Even if you win

01/01/2008

Lots of employers win sexual harassment lawsuits, but not until they have had to air their dirty laundry in public—and pay for the privilege, too. That’s one reason to insist on a professional workplace free of sexual innuendo and harassing behavior. HR performs one of its most valuable services when it impresses on management the high cost of winning a sexual harassment lawsuit …

Does sexual harassment lurk in e-Mail? Can you disprove it?

01/01/2008

In the age of e-mail, instant messaging and other written but ephemeral forms of communication, it’s easy to be caught off guard when an employee claims sexual harassment via the company computers. If an employee says she’s received hundreds of sexually explicit e-mails from co-workers or others associated with the company, could you prove her wrong? …

Worker’s criminal past won’t immediately get discrimination case tossed

01/01/2008

When an employee sues you for employment discrimination, it’s natural to want to learn more about the person suing you and whether he may have sued others. That information is readily available. But don’t expect that even a fraud conviction related to false employment claims will get the case tossed out …

Check yourself: Can you show equal treatment at discipline time?

01/01/2008

There’s an easy way to avoid losing a discrimination lawsuit stemming from disciplining an employee who breaks company rules: Make absolutely certain you discipline fairly and evenhandedly, meting out punishment regardless of race, sex, nationality or other protected characteristics. Conduct regular audits of all disciplinary actions to make certain no one gets a free pass …

Class-Action status granted for disgruntled immigrant workers

01/01/2008

A Mexican woman has been granted permission to serve as the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against a company that recruits and places temporary agricultural workers on farms and other agricultural operations in North Carolina and other states. The woman claims that International Labor Management Corporation purposely placed women in less lucrative temporary visa programs than men …