Diversity
Retaliation Mistake Leads to a Costly Payout
Race discrimination is bad enough, but an Oklahoma-based company recently learned the hard way that adding a retaliation mistake on top of that can lead to hefty settlements. American Piping Inspection, Inc. has agreed to pay $250,000 to settle a race-based discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the EEOC on behalf of a Black employee…
Read MoreQuiet Quitting and Today’s Workforce Challenges
The American workforce is in crisis, buffeted by one challenge after another – some recent, and some, like demographic changes, that have been building for decades. At a recent employment law seminar – our first in-person employment program since 2019 – Pierce Atwood brought together clients from health care, higher education, accounting, the nonprofit sector,…
Read MoreThe Benefits of Hiring People With No Experience
One of the greatest battles that people fresh out of school or looking to make a career shift face is how to get relevant experience if no one will hire them without relevant experience. In job listings, there’s typically an unspoken understanding that a position calling for “0-2 years of experience” doesn’t really mean zero.…
Read MoreGood Policies, Good Results – Have You Checked Yours Lately?
A recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit provides good reason for employers to make a robust effort at maintaining and disseminating a policy against discrimination and harassment. Most employers probably already have such a policy. But if it is not comprehensive in scope, and if it is buried in…
Read MoreSupreme Court Ready to Address Affirmative Action, Religious Freedoms
With the advent of fall comes a new term for the U.S. Supreme Court, which is likely to hear a number of cases of interest to employers across the country. The 2022-23 term officially started Oct. 3rd. Numerous legal experts have predicted that we’ll see the court reject some major precedents this fall. “They are…
Read MoreReading the Riot Act: $100 Million Settlement in Gender Discrimination Class Action
A California Superior Court judge recently preliminarily approved a $100 million settlement in connection with a class action brought on behalf of a class of current and former female employees at video game studio Riot Games. The lawsuit, filed in 2018 after an expose into so-called “bro culture” at Riot Games, asserted that the company…
Read MoreH-1B Lottery Registration Will Open March 1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the dates for submitting registrations for the yearly H-1B cap lottery. The registration period will be open from March 1, 2022 to March 18, 2022, with selections to be announced by the end of the month. All employers who wish to file an H-1B petition under the cap…
Read More7 trends likely to shape HR in 2022
From the Great Resignation to vaccine mandate confusion, last year was a wild ride for HR. Some things may not have cleared up much — like when the pandemic will end or when the labor market will stabilize — but current predictions build on the learnings from the last 12 months. Nearly two years into…
Read More14 Key HR Lessons Learned in 2021
Looking back, 2021 has been a year in which HR professionals at all levels learned critical lessons. Here are some of the areas we HR folks have struggled with this year: 1. Show employees the company’s purpose beyond profits. People join and stay with a company only if their personal values are in line with those…
Read MoreThe Return to the Office May Spur Harassment, ADA Claims
Various legal experts have said that employers with lasting remote operations or returning workforces should look out for certain issues. On Sept. 7, it appeared: the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s first lawsuit alleging an employer violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by requiring an employee to work in person, despite a company policy allowing…
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