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Employment Law

Health insurer pays $1.8 million to settle sex harassment suit

12/01/2007

United HealthCare of Florida has settled for $1.8 million in a same-sex harassment and retaliation lawsuit involving a former regional vice president. A male senior account executive in the company’s Sunrise office claimed he was subjected to verbal sexual harassment by a male vice president …

Nordstrom faces EEOC suit

12/01/2007

Gloria Pimental, a worker at Nordstrom stores in Wellington and Palm Beach Gardens, has filed an EEOC lawsuit alleging a manager harassed her and other Hispanic and black employees. Pimental claims she was fired when she complained …

The Geo Group hit with religious discrimination suit

12/01/2007

The EEOC has slapped The Geo Group, a Boca Raton-based prison management company, with a religious discrimination lawsuit over the company’s 2005 ban on Muslim head scarves …

Preparing for Florida’s minimum wage hike

12/01/2007

Florida’s minimum wage rises to $6.79 per hour on Jan. 1, 2008. Florida law requires the Agency for Workforce Innovation to adjust the minimum wage annually to reflect changes in the U.S. Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers in the South. The index rose 1.85% in the year ending Sept. 1, 2007 …

‘Unusual’ behavior may signal need for FMLA leave

12/01/2007

Employees who can’t tell their employers they have serious health conditions may still put their employers on notice—and trigger their FMLA rights. “Unusual” behavior alone can be enough to notify a reasonable employer that an employee may have a serious health condition. That unusual behavior can include shouting at a supervisor, a panic reaction or other sudden emotional outbursts …

Train supervisors to keep promotion processes moving

12/01/2007

Have you stressed to supervisors and managers that they shouldn’t let an employee’s promotion paperwork sit on their desks for weeks at a time? If not, do it now. Here’s why: Sitting on a promotion can be an adverse employment action …

One lost lawsuit doesn’t necessarily lead to more

12/01/2007

Has your organization lost a previous race discrimination lawsuit? Ouch! You can bet some of your employees filed away that information for future use. However, you can take heart in a court’s recent decision that having previously lost a discrimination suit doesn’t constitute “proof” that your organization continues to discriminate—unless the new case deals with exactly the same type of alleged discrimination …

Rule against document removal supports legit business need

12/01/2007

Does your organization have a rule against removing company documents from the workplace? If not, consider adding one. Documents should remain on the premises, and allowing them to “walk” can spell big trouble. For example, employees may be tempted to remove and copy documents they think will aid a later lawsuit against the company …

EEOC class action requires proof each member was harassed

12/01/2007

Here’s a bit of good news for employers facing an EEOC sexual harassment investigation: A federal court has concluded that, in a pattern-and-practice lawsuit, the EEOC still must show that each and every woman it claims was subjected to a hostile work environment actually experienced the harassment …

Being the only member of a protected class isn’t direct evidence of discrimination

12/01/2007

While being the only Hispanic, black or woman in a workplace may be uncomfortable, it doesn’t show that your employer practices discrimination. It takes more—such as statistical proof that the local labor pool includes other members of the employee’s protected class and that the organization employs a disproportionately lower number than should be on the payroll …