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

Discrimination / Harassment

4 discriminatory hiring practices will lure EEOC to your door

12/03/2009

Since 2007, the EEOC has been engaged in a major push to stamp out race-based discrimination in hiring. Known as E-RACE, the initiative’s goal is to “eliminate recruiting and hiring practices that lead to discrimination by limiting an employer’s applicant pool.” When targeting employers for enforcement action, the EEOC often zeroes in on four recruitment and screening practices:

Fort Worth extends bias protection to transgenders

12/03/2009

On Nov. 10, the Fort Worth City Council voted to amend the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance to include discrimination based on transgender status, gender identity, or gender expression. Fort Worth now joins Austin, Dallas and El Paso as the only Texas cities banning such discrimination.

Noose, slurs lead women to sue for discrimination

12/03/2009

Two former employees of Trey Industries are suing the commercial construction company, claiming they were fired after complaining about racism they experienced while working at a Marathon Oil facility in Texas City.

After the deluge: Hurricane Ike washes up an age bias lawsuit

12/03/2009

A former employee of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston has filed a lawsuit alleging he was fired last year because of his age. Thomas Galan claims he was let go at the age of 53 after Hurricane Ike forced UTMB to temporarily shut down in September 2008 and lay off hundreds of employees.

Worker complained of bias? Discipline with care

12/03/2009

Employees who complain about alleged discrimination are protected from retaliation for doing so, even if it turns out that their discrimination claims don’t hold water. The idea is that employees shouldn’t have to fear reprisal if they complain internally about discrimination or go to the EEOC. If one of your employees files a discrimination complaint, be careful how you discipline him for any workplace rule-breaking.

Justify different penalties for like violations

12/03/2009

When it comes to discipline, equal treatment is the only safe way to go since you don’t know which employees might sue for alleged discrimination based on membership in a protected class. That doesn’t mean, of course, that you can’t come up with different punishments when the circumstances warrant. The key is to document why you punished one employee more severely for seemingly similar rule violations.

Company party gone out of bounds? Be sure to note voluntary participation

12/02/2009

The upcoming holidays will surely bring company celebrations—and a predictable increase in sexual harassment lawsuits. That’s true even for “unofficial” events if employees believe they are expected to attend. Tell managers that they need to inform employees which events are company sanctioned and which are not. Encourage them to avoid pressuring employees to attend out-of-office events that carry the potential for legal trouble.

Holiday parties: 12 tips for making sure liability doesn’t hang over your head

12/01/2009

Every year around this time, the Ghost of Christmas Parties Past comes clanking down the hallway, dragging a chain of liability dread for employers. The biggest nightmare: alcohol-fueled misbehavior and mishaps. Here are 12 tips to ensure that what’s supposed to be the best of times doesn’t turn into the worst of times.

Racially unbalanced workforce doesn’t prove disparate impact

12/01/2009

Employees won’t win race discrimination disparate-impact lawsuits just by showing that their employer’s workforce isn’t racially balanced. They also have to show that the employer applied a specific or particular employment practice that created the disparate impact.

Words matter—and can come back to haunt employers sued for age discrimination

12/01/2009

In difficult economic times like these, employers try everything they can to wring greater productivity and profits from employees and work processes. It’s not easy. There’s often resistance from employees who have grown accustomed to doing things the same way they always have. And some of the most intransigent of those employees may be your older workers—and that means potential for legal trouble.