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Discrimination / Harassment

“Confederate Southern-American” isn’t a protected class.

03/01/2005
It’s illegal to discriminate in hiring, firing, promotions or pay because of a person’s national origin. Courts have said national origin must refer to a country where the person was born …

Keep applications clean; jotting notes may trigger hiring-bias claims

03/01/2005
Don’t track applicants’ race, sex, religion, age or national origin information on their applications or any other pre-offer documents unless you’re required to do so under certain affirmative-action laws. And if …

When handing out discipline, make punishment fit the crime

03/01/2005
Managers may want to “get tough” on employees who have given them trouble in the past. But, as the following case shows, employees can sue for retaliation if they can prove …

Don’t impose grooming rules that weigh heavier on one gender

03/01/2005
Courts usually allow you to set grooming policies or appearance standards, particularly for employees who deal directly with customers. Just make sure you apply your rules evenhandedly across your work force. …

New motivation to complete your EEO-1 paperwork

03/01/2005
If you’re required to file an annual EEO-1 form, don’t let the task slip: The EEOC can get tough with companies that shrug off this duty. Example: The EEOC filed a …

Request birth date only after conditional job offer

03/01/2005

Q. We don’t ask applicants for their age or birth date on our application. But we plan to start conducting background checks on applicants whom we’re seriously considering. The company that will conduct the checks for us said the birth date is on all the applications they see and that it’s instrumental to conducting the checks. What should we do? —V.T., Wyoming

Male managers: Don’t ‘lighten up’ on females’ reviews

03/01/2005
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The new legal risk of overworking bilingual employees

03/01/2005
Issue: Overburdening employees because of their language abilities.
Risk: Relying too heavily on bilingual employees could spark a national-origin bias lawsuit.
Action: Remind supervisors to be on guard against …

Review workplace treatment of Hispanic employees

03/01/2005
Reason: The federal government is reaching out to Hispanic people to make them more aware of their workplace rights. Latest effort: The EEOC launched a new Spanish-language version of its Web …

Jobs must be ‘virtually identical’ (not similar) to bring equal-pay claim

02/01/2005
Don’t be afraid to set different salary levels for employees who hold the same title. Different pay for the same job title is fine as long as you can prove that …