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

Discrimination / Harassment

Good news: No personal liability for age discrimination claims

05/27/2008
It’s hard enough being a manager, supervisor or HR professional without worrying that a court may second-guess your decisions. It’s even harder in cases where making a mistake means personal liability. Fortunately, you don’t have to add age discrimination claims to those for which you can be held personally liable …

Managers can pay for their bullying behavior—And so can you

05/27/2008
For the first time, the Indiana Supreme Court has endorsed a claim brought by a former employee against a supervisor (rather than the company for whom he worked) on the grounds that the general harassment was so severe as to constitute illegal bullying …

What should we include in our updated employee handbook?

05/27/2008
Q. Our company is looking to revise and update its employee handbook. This will be the first update in several years. Is there anything specific that we should focus on to make sure that we are up-to-date? …

Objective evaluations get lawsuits dismissed

05/27/2008
The quality of your performance evaluation process—whether it is objective or subjective—can determine how a discrimination lawsuit turns out. Handle evaluations improperly, and a case can linger for months. Do it the right way, and the case may be dismissed immediately …

Supreme Court Opens the Door to More Race-Based Retaliation Lawsuits

05/27/2008
Bad news for employers: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 27 that employees who suffer retaliation after voicing complaints about on-the-job race discrimination can file lawsuits under a little-known Civil War-era law. The result: increased risk of retaliation lawsuits and bigger jury awards.
 

Township of Monroe will stand trial for racial discrimination

05/27/2008
A jury will decide whether a black senior employee of the Township of Monroe in Gloucester County lost his job because of racial bias. Elvis Gooden was appointed the town’s chief financial officer and director of finance in 2001 …

Open-Door policy is good insurance against harassment claims

05/23/2008
You need an open-door policy encouraging employees to come forward with sexual harassment claims. If you show you mean business—by appropriately responding to harassment charges—chances are employees will lose lawsuits if they decline to use the open door and instead suffer sexual harassment in silence …

Track HR decisions to show discipline wasn’t harassment

05/23/2008
The best way to prevent lawsuits or to get a quick dismissal of unfounded charges is to document every employment decision carefully. You and your staff should be able to show exactly when a decision was made, who made it and what the basis for the decision was …

Promotion complaints? Consider firewall for future promotions

05/23/2008
Sometimes, employees who fail to get promoted get it into their heads that they are being discriminated against when that’s simply not the case. Make sure the manager or supervisor who handles such an employee’s next promotion request doesn’t know about the previous complaints—and therefore won’t be in a position to retaliate …

When promotions favor similar employees, prepare to justify

05/23/2008
Have many of your recent promotions gone to members of one sex or some other protected category? If so, take some time now to figure out how that happened. It’s entirely possible that what at first looks like a suspicious “coincidence” that could be misconstrued as discrimination is actually completely innocent …