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Discrimination / Harassment

Spaghetti incident gets even messier in LAFD’s tangled tale

04/01/2008
A jury has added $1.6 million to the tab for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s (LAFD) handling of a discrimination lawsuit, bringing the total to $4.5 million. The case began when a black LAFD firefighter alleged that someone had laced his spaghetti dinner with dog food …

Check your org chart for hidden bias or preference

04/01/2008
It can happen before anyone in HR even realizes it: Managers or supervisors begin hiring applicants with ethnic or national backgrounds similar to their own. If you notice an unusually high number of similar employees concentrated in a division or section, it’s time for real efforts to make sure your staff fairly reflects the makeup of the overall work force …

Passed over a qualified employee? You can fix the problem

04/01/2008
Sometimes, employers make promotion mistakes that are purely unintentional. That can happen, for example, if an employer somehow overlooked a qualified employee for a promotion. If that employee is a member of a protected class, however, it’s easy to believe that the reason was illegal discrimination …

Insist on thorough documentation of background check results

04/01/2008
Take care if you run background checks as part of your job application process. Be sure to document how you handle reference check calls, and document requests. You may need the files later, especially if you don’t hire the applicant in the end and he claims discrimination …

Do promotion criteria rely on company or job seniority?

04/01/2008
If your organization uses seniority as a factor in making promotion decisions, make sure you think through what sort of seniority you really want to use—company seniority or job seniority. Make sure managers and employees alike understand which type of seniority counts for promotions …

Employees who agree to arbitration lose federal option in FMLA, NJLAD cases

04/01/2008
Employees who agree that they want an arbitrator to handle their absenteeism claims shortly after they have been disciplined can’t later file a federal FMLA or New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) claim …

Prudential case may top $6 billion

04/01/2008
More than 350 current and former employees are seeking $6.5 billion in damages in a class-action lawsuit against Prudential Financial of Newark …

Automate applications to end failure-to-promote claims

04/01/2008

If you want to avoid needless failure-to-promote claims, create an automatic application process, and make sure managers and all employees understand how the new system works. Courts have said that if employees let their supervisors know they may be interested in a promotion, those employees don’t actually have to apply to claim they were discriminated against in the process …

Troublesome trainee? Document difficulty from Day One

04/01/2008
Managers and supervisors tend to cut some slack for new employees. After all, novice employees need training before mastering new skills. But if a trainee is beginning to look like she’s not catching on, it’s time to document her efforts and results—plus those of her fellow trainees. Here’s why …

If you need to discipline, verify facts with several sources

04/01/2008
Discipline is always a sensitive issue, especially if the employee in question has filed previous discrimination complaints or a lawsuit. Even if the employer won previous battles, the employee may actually view any discipline as another chance to attack the company—with a retaliation lawsuit. Here’s the best way to handle further discipline …