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

Discrimination / Harassment

Establish rules on internal promotions to avoid lawsuits

04/01/2007

When it comes to internal promotions, you’re on the safest legal ground if you set clear procedures. That way, employees who don’t land coveted promotions can’t claim the reason was discrimination …

Toledo firefighters face termination for illegal tapings

04/01/2007

The Toledo fire chief has recommended terminating three female firefighters after discovering they had secretly taped workplace conversations …

Goodyear to pay $925,000 to settle gender bias suit

04/01/2007

Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will pay $925,000 to a class of more than 800 women whom it turned down for tire-making jobs in its Danville, Va., plant in 1998 and 1999 …

Shootings spark bias lawsuits by white officers in Cleveland

04/01/2007

A federal court jury recently awarded $800,000 to a white police officer, finding that the city of Cleveland racially discriminated against him after he shot a black youth in a 2001 arrest attempt …

Unions say ALL workers should eligible for state minimum wage

04/01/2007

The AFL-CIO is working to overturn provisions of Ohio House bill 690, which excludes farm, home health care and amusement park workers from the state’s recent minimum wage increase …

Understanding religious accommodations in Ohio workplaces

04/01/2007

Ohio mirrors America’s growing diversity in many ways. Today, mosques occupy old churches; co-workers wear burqas and yarmulkes; and some employees request “prayer breaks.” Religious diversity is a reason for celebration, but it also presents challenges in the workplace

USF Holland to pay $700,000 for race bias at Nashville plant

04/01/2007

Two black employees working in the Nashville plant of Michigan-based USF Holland recently won $350,000 each in a race-discrimination lawsuit …

No disability discrimination if worker isn’t qualified for job

04/01/2007

A hospital secretary who suffered chronic arm pain after puncturing her thumb with a contaminated pin recently lost her disability-discrimination lawsuit …

Separation agreement protects employer from age bias claim

04/01/2007

A 55-year-old employee whose job was eliminated in a company restructuring recently lost his age-discrimination case before the 6th Circuit Court. Reason: He had signed a separation agreement waiving all claims against the company …

Quick fix can help avoid harassment liability

04/01/2007

Q. One of our male supervisors fired what we in HR thought was a poor-performing female employee. During the exit interview, the terminated employee told us that her supervisor fired her because he was sexually harassing her and she threatened to report him if it didn’t stop. It turned out that her claim was legitimate. We immediately called her back to work.

We thought we had dodged a bullet but, unfortunately, we’ve been contacted by her attorney, who threatened a lawsuit unless we agree to settle her claim for a lot of money. We will contact an attorney to represent us, but we want to know if the fact that we brought her right back to work is going to make a difference? —L.W.