• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Discrimination / Harassment

You’re not liable for customers’ racial slurs

06/22/2015

Sure, judges expect employers to keep the work environment relatively free from harassment, at least when slurs and other bad behavior come from co-workers and supervisors. But a different, more lenient standard applies when the source is outside the company’s direct control.

Saks sex bias case settled

06/09/2015
In a sudden reversal, New York-based Saks Fifth Avenue has elected to settle a sex discrimination complaint filed by a transgender employee at the company’s store in Houston.

EPA claim can’t rest on just one worker’s pay

06/09/2015
An employee who sues under the EPA can’t pick and choose to whom she compares herself—for example, by selecting a man who holds the same job who happens to make more. She must consider all men and women in the same job classification.

When hiring, never consider or mention military reserve obligations

06/09/2015

Federal law protects applicants who belong to the military reserves from discrimination based on their service, and considering their military obligations when making hiring decisions is illegal. If anyone involved in hiring ex­­presses reluctance to hire a candidate because of his or her service, expect legal trouble. Make absolutely sure you had valid reasons for picking other candidates.

Don’t tell harassed worker to ‘move on’

06/08/2015
A new employee says her co-worker has sexually harassed her. You investigate and discover she’s telling the truth. You discipline the co-worker. Is that the end of the matter? Not if the new employee won’t stop talking about what happened and it’s beginning to interfere with her ability to get her job done.

Review policy after Supreme Court scarf ruling

06/05/2015
Consider amending your dress code policy in light of a June 1 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of the EEOC in a case that pitted fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch against an Oklahoma teenager who wasn’t hired after wearing a Muslim headscarf to a job interview.

Weigh prior discipline when deciding to fire

06/03/2015
Before you fire a worker for making a serious mistake, take into account his or her past disciplinary history and make it part of your decision-making process. That way, should the worker challenge the decision by claiming others outside his protected class were treated more leniently, you have that past discipline as support for a harsher punishment.

Old school: No ageist comments about training

06/03/2015

Remind managers and supervisors that all qualified employees, regardless of age, should be offered appropriate training. Telling older workers that they may not succeed can mean a big lawsuit loss later.

More free lawyers may lead to more litigation

06/02/2015

Generally, only indigent defendants are entitled to a free lawyer to defend against serious criminal charges that may result in jail time. The practical result is that employers really don’t have to worry too much about wholly frivolous claims, since few attorneys will take such cases on a contingent fee basis. Recently, however, there has been a growing trend among judges to appoint free attorneys in employment cases.

Supreme Court backs EEOC in headscarf case

06/01/2015
The Court has ruled in favor of the EEOC in a case that pitted fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch against a teenager who wasn’t hired after wearing a Muslim headscarf to a job interview.