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Discrimination / Harassment

North Carolina Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act

01/01/2007

The Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act (REDA) is North Carolina’s super anti-discrimination law combining elements of several federal laws, including Title VII, the Fair Labor Standards Act, OSHA and USERRA. The Employment Discrimination Bureau in the state Department of Labor (www.nclabor.com/edb/edb.htm) enforces REDA …

Handle application liars consistently: Reject all or none

12/01/2006

As an employer, you can’t always wait on a background check before offering a job, so you have to rely on applicants’ oral and written statements to make the offer. But when the background check comes back to reveal that the person lied, you have the absolute right to terminate that individual for dishonesty …

Contract will still stick, even if employee fails to read it

12/01/2006

When faced with a multipage employment contract, some job candidates and employees may be tempted to skip a careful reading before they sign on the dotted line. But state courts won’t excuse employees who claim that they didn’t understand the employment terms because they never read them …

Even Lateral Transfer Can Be Declared ‘Illegal Retaliation’

12/01/2006

Whenever one of your employees files a discrimination claim, you now need to be ultracautious about making any changes to that employee’s job. That’s because almost any change—including lateral transfers with the same pay and title—can now be deemed an illegal "adverse employment action" by the court …

Disability harassment costs Wall Street firm half million

12/01/2006

Wall Street securities firm LaBranche & Co. agreed to pay former trading assistant Peter Servidio $500,000 to settle his disability harassment lawsuit …

Co-Worker’s flirtation isn’t sexual harassment

12/01/2006

Casting admiring glances or making other such flirtatious gestures toward a co-worker isn’t sexual harassment under the Florida Civil Rights Act. That law doesn’t require employers to guarantee that employees won’t ever look at each other in a way perceived as a "come-on" …

Review your severance packages; EEOC tightening scrutiny

12/01/2006

When employers offer severance packages, they often ask employees to waive their rights to sue the employer. That’s a smart strategy, but small discrepancies in the agreement’s wording can make the difference between a successful severance package and a call from the EEOC …

Employers can be liable for harassing customers, too

12/01/2006

Employees have the legal right to work in a harassment-free environment, and employers must take corrective measures to end harassment when it comes to their attention. It doesn’t matter that the harassment comes from customers or others the employer has no control over …

More teens allege sexual harassment as the EEOC and media heighten awareness

12/01/2006

Just because employees are young doesn’t mean they don’t know their rights to a harassment-free workplace. The media firestorm involving Rep. Mark Foley’s improper e-mails to teen pages in Congress raised awareness among workers, parents and employers about harassment of teen workers …

Set firm moonlighting policy; punish violators equally

12/01/2006

You have the right to prohibit employees from engaging in other gainful employment while at work. But can you (or should you) ban off-the-clock moonlighting? And when should you discipline employees for moonlighting? …