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North Carolina

EEOC busts dentist’s chops

06/28/2010
Kinston-based Affordable Care Inc. will pay $150,000 to settle sex and race harassment charges leveled by two female employees of an affiliated dentist in Massachusetts.

N.C. woman has bone to pick with Perdue

06/28/2010

Audrey Sheftall and her granddaughter both applied for jobs at Perdue Farms’ Lewiston facility on the same day. Perdue hired the granddaughter, but not the 66-year-old Sheftall. Sheftall complained to the EEOC that Perdue had discriminated against her because she was no longer—ahem—a spring chicken.

‘Unacceptable conduct’ is valid discharge reason

06/28/2010
Public employees are entitled to due process before they’re fired. But that’s a flexible standard that allows firing for “unacceptable personal conduct.”

NASCAR’s Mayfield loses N.C. disability challenge

06/28/2010

The North Carolina Persons with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against the disabled, but that protection is limited. Consider the following case involving race car driver Jeremy Mayfield:

Employees may choose just one: Either workers’ comp or retaliation lawsuit

06/28/2010
Here’s a bit of good news for North Carolina employers: The Court of Appeals of North Carolina has rejected a bid to expand the right to sue one’s employer for retaliation.

Keep processes transparent so everyone knows crucial employment milestones

06/28/2010

Typically, employees have just a short period of time to file an EEOC discrimination claim. But what if they don’t know they are being discriminated against? In some circumstances, that may give them much more time to begin a lawsuit. All the more reason to be open about employment decisions—it makes it harder for employees to later claim they didn’t understand their situations.

Invest a little in harassment training upfront to avoid sky-high litigation costs later

06/28/2010

If you do nothing else during training sessions, at least impress upon supervisors and managers the costly mess that can result if they allow any sort of harassment or retaliation in their departments. And remind them that it doesn’t matter if employee complaints fail to stand up in court.

Good job descriptions explain pay differences

06/28/2010

Always prepare accurate job descriptions for each position. That way, if an employee challenges pay differences, you will be ready to show that jobs and duties that sound similar at first blush aren’t really comparable. That can come in handy if an employee claims some form of discrimination based on race or other protected characteristic.

Transfer worker who needs a fresh start

06/28/2010

Sometimes, an employee isn’t a good fit for a particular job assignment and gets frustrated that things aren’t working out. Employers that transfer such an employee with the genuine intent to give her a fresh start elsewhere probably won’t find themselves in legal hot water. That’s true even if the employee had filed an EEOC charge—as long as the new job has similar duties, responsibilities, pay and other benefits.

Professional Building Systems settles racial harassment case

05/28/2010
Mount Gilead-based Professional Building Systems will pay 12 black employees $118,000 to settle charges of racial harassment. According to the EEOC, which brokered the agreement, six workers filed the initial complaint and six more experienced the same harassment.