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

Discrimination / Harassment

Was Plano dismissal a layoff–or age bias?

07/03/2012
An electrician with 25 years of service to the Plano Independent School District has sued, alleging he was fired because of his age, not because the district needed to cut staff.

Title VII complaints involving nonemployees aren’t protected

07/03/2012

When an employee complains she is being harassed, that’s protected activity that cannot be punished. Like­­wise, complaining that a co-worker is being harassed is protected activity. But it’s not protected activity if an employee complains that someone not connected with the employer is being harassed.

When employee complains of harassment, act fast to fix it

07/03/2012
Resolve every sexual harassment complaint ASAP. That way, it won’t come back to haunt you.

Employee takes false allegations to the press? You can sue for defamation

07/03/2012
Here’s a novel approach for em­­ployers falsely accused of discrimination in the press. If you win the discrimination case, you may be able to sue the employee for defamation.

Texas EEOC complaints up for second straight year

07/03/2012
Texas employees are doing more than their share to keep the EEOC busy, filing more discrimination charges per capita than the national average.

Don’t sweat minor compensation differences

07/03/2012
Ever since enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, pay equity has been a hot employment law topic. In the intervening years, many employers have proactively gone over their pay scales and made adjustments after discovering apparent pay inequalities that crept in over the years.

Police called in response to workplace harassment? You must still act to stop future incidents

07/02/2012

If a co-worker, supervisor or cus­­tomer sexually assaults an em­ployee and the police are called in, the employer must still take reasonable steps to stop the harassment and prevent another assault. It’s not enough to rely on the police to take care of the problem.

OK to discipline, even after harassment claim

07/01/2012

When employees face progressive discipline and think they might be fired, they sometimes suddenly start complaining about alleged sexual harassment. The underlying reason may be legitimate—or it may just be a ploy to stop discipline. It doesn’t mean all discipline has to be put on hold.

EEOC on age bias: Update on ‘reasonable factors other than age’

06/28/2012
The EEOC has issued a new regulation addressing the “reasonable factors other than age” (RFOA) defense to disparate impact claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Understanding the new regulation can help you comply with the law and prevail in court if you are sued.

Race differences alone won’t prove discrimination

06/28/2012

Some employees attribute perfectly reasonable actions to race dis­crimination just because the ­decision-maker happens to belong to a different protected class. Fortunately, courts usually quickly dismiss such cases.