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

Discrimination / Harassment

Queens business owner must testify about religious beliefs

09/01/2007

Ted Doudak, president of Riva Jewelry Manufacturing in Long Island, was forced to testify in court whether he believes homosexuality is a sin against God, and gays and lesbians are doomed to eternal damnation. The former employee who brought the lawsuit claims he was fired a day after telling Doudak that the employee’s daughter is a lesbian and the employee is gay …

Pants suit doesn’t look too becoming on MTA

09/01/2007

A Pentecostal bus driver fired by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) for refusing to wear pants because it violated her religious beliefs has sued and is receiving legal aid from an Orthodox Jewish organization. Agudath Israel of America came to her aid because Orthodox Jewish women, like Pentecostals, can wear only skirts …

OK to punish worker acting alone to end alleged harassment

09/01/2007

When it comes to sexual harassment, employers need a clear policy and a process that allows employees to come forward with claims. That’s really the only way an organization can protect itself. But what if an employee who thinks he’s being harassed ignores your policy and acts alone to contact the alleged harasser anonymously? If this “self-help” seems to threaten the alleged harasser, you can punish the employee without worrying about liability …

Catch phrases can be code for discrimination

09/01/2007

Does your organization use phrases such as “fits our culture” or “understands our vision” as part of the hiring decision? If so, you may be setting yourself up for a discrimination lawsuit. Why? Because courts and juries sometimes view such subjective language as evidence that something else lies behind those phrases …

Independent inquiry saves the day on supervisor harassment

09/01/2007

Employers can fairly easily limit their liability in sexual harassment cases. Rigorously enforcing a solid harassment policy does the trick. But supervisor harassment is another matter. When a supervisor allegedly harasses a subordinate, the employer is liable unless it can show that some “tangible employment action” by the supervisor didn’t adversely affect
the victim …

Whistle-Blower law doesn’t limit right to sue for nongovernment reporting

09/01/2007

Before the Illinois Whistleblower Act became law, employees could sue employers for retaliatory discharge if they reported wrongdoing either internally or to the government or the media. Some lawyers thought the act wiped out such broad employee protections. Now an Illinois appeals court has clarified that employees are protected even if they take their complaints outside an employer’s formal resolutions process …

Complaining about working conditions—And public policy violations—Also protected

09/01/2007

An employee who reports that his or her employer is violating state or federal law may be protected from discharge. The employee can sue for retaliatory discharge and also on the premise that firing him or her violates public policy …

Woman has affair, quits and then loses sex discrimination case

09/01/2007

The course of true love, at least in the workplace, runs straight to the courtroom. But Floor Covering Associates of Joliet received a reprieve recently when the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court verdict in its favor …

Lewd butcher kept on well past ‘Sell by’ date

09/01/2007

Jewel Food Stores settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with four female employees for $200,000, but the meat department manager who spawned the suit has had a surprising shelf life …

Firefighters claim Chicago suburb wanted black department

09/01/2007

Four white part-time firefighters have sued the village of Dolton for racial discrimination after the town’s fire department promoted two black firefighters to full-time positions over white candidates with better qualifications. The plaintiffs claim Dolton Fire Chief Jerry McCullough told them, “If you’re not black, you’re not getting hired.” …