Discrimination
Once Is Enough: Eleventh Circuit Allows Racial Harassment Claim Against Health Care Provider to Proceed—and Takeaways For Employers
Synopsis: In a recent decision, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: Middle District of Alabama. Northern District of Alabama. … Southern District of Georgia, held that the use of the N-Word in the workplace one time is sufficient to trigger a hostile work environment. Additionally, the…
Read MoreOne Visit and Vague Plans to Return Not Sufficient to Allow ADA Access Claim
Businesses might see a ray of hope in a recent federal appellate court decision that rejected the ability of a wheelchair-bound patron and “tester” to pursue her claim against a property owner and shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida. There is a veritable cottage industry of plaintiffs who bring claims against businesses, even those they have…
Read MoreEmployers and Workers Disagree on Being ‘Too Old’ to Work
Aging-friendly workplaces take steps to promote inclusion of older employees Many employees plan to work past age 65, but will their employers help them to do so? In many cases perhaps not, as employers and workers don’t agree about how friendly the workplace is to older employees, according to a new study from the nonprofit Transamerica…
Read MoreReasons Given for Termination Are Critically Important
Proper documentation is an important component of human resource management, an employer victory in a discrimination case shows. In circumstances involving termination, documentation can be of critical significance. Stating the reasons for a termination can, depending on the circumstances, play a pivotal role in the ultimate outcome of a lawsuit. In this case, the employee had…
Read MoreWhat Employee Speech Is Protected in the Workplace?
Employees don’t have a constitutional right to free speech at work, but employers still need to be aware of federal and state laws that do protect workers’ speech in certain situations. The First Amendment guarantees citizens the protection of free speech from intrusion by the federal government, however it does not apply to private actors,…
Read MoreWoo-hoo! Normal HR policies are legal again, says NLRB General Counsel
Workplace rules are back, baby! Peter Robb, General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (and my new hero), issued a Memorandum on Wednesday that employers should love. Mr. Robb has declared that nine standard employer policies will now be presumed lawful under the National Labor Relations Act. The Memorandum was based on the Board’s…
Read MoreSeasons 52 Settles $2.85M Hiring Discrimination Lawsuit
EEOC focusing on tough-to-prove age bias against older job seekers Recent high-profile cases alleging bias against older job applicants were based on campus recruiting programs and online recruitment campaigns, new territory for litigation. But the settlement this month between the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Seasons 52 restaurant chain indicates that the more…
Read MoreDon’t Oversimplify Acknowledgments of Harassment Training
Signatures of attendance alone are not enough for some employers Employees’ acknowledgments that they’ve attended anti-harassment training should document more than attendance; they should also show that workers understood the training’s contents, some legal experts say. Most employers just get a signature and that’s it. Following the #MeToo movement, we recommend employers consider an acknowledgment…
Read MoreWho Are You?: The Legal Implications of Employee Personality Testing
Many employers require employees and applicants to take personality testing (think Meyers-Briggs). Others are seriously considering adding this as a component of their hiring and employee engagement efforts. Companies want to get a sense of an individual’s opinions, attitudes, feelings, motivations, preferences, interests, emotional makeup, and style of interacting with others. This information, some believe,…
Read MoreSecond Circuit Holds That Discrimination Based On Sexual Orientation Is Illegal Under Title VII
In a landmark decision, the Second Circuit (which covers New York, Connecticut, and Vermont), ruled that discrimination based on an employees’ sexual orientation is actionable under Title VII. The Second Circuit in Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc. is only the second appellate court in the United States to expressly find that employers who discriminate on…
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