Category: Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is an important and ongoing strategy of any HR plan. Ensuring that your company supports hiring, engaging, and retaining diverse workers with varied backgrounds will set your company up for long-term success and an increased bottom line. This topic offers the latest strategies for talent management, key insights from diversity leaders, case studies on D&I in the workplace, and more.

Full Faith and Credit: Lessons from the Shirley Sherrod Snafu

By Mark I. Schickman Imagine a horrible accusation made against one of your managers — maybe harassment, maybe violence, maybe theft, maybe drugs. This is an outspoken employee who has sued you before — and won — and with whom you have to be careful. But under heavy pressure from top executives, you immediately fire […]

EEO Training Makes Economic Sense Even in the Worst of Times

By Sam R. Fulkerson According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), 93,277 workplace discrimination charges were filed nationwide during 2009 ― the second-highest level ever ― and monetary relief obtained for victims totaled more than $376 million. The 2009 data show that private-sector job bias charges alleging discrimination based on disability, religion, and national […]

Labor Day: September 6, 2010

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first observance of Labor Day is believed to have been a parade of 10,000 workers on September 5, 1882, in New York City, organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary. By 1893, more than half the states were observing a “Labor Day” on one […]

DOL Offers Disability Law Advisor Tool Online

The Department of Labor (DOL) has a tool available on its website for employers that want to make sure their policies and practices don’t discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities. The online Disability Nondiscrimination Law Advisor, available at www.dol.gov/elaws/odep.htm, helps employers determine which federal disability nondiscrimination laws apply to their business, including: Title I of […]

All Eyes on Arizona

Arizona’s new immigration law, Senate Bill (SB) 1070, authorizes state and local law enforcement officials to inquire into the immigration status of any person “where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States.” The law regulates aliens directly, not by means of the employer-employee relationship. Nevertheless, […]

White House Expands Domestic Partner Benefits

President Barack Obama recently issued a memo directing federal agencies to extend benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of federal employees to the extent permitted by current law. The memo begins: For far too long, many of our Government’s hard-working, dedicated LGBT employees have been denied equal access to the basic rights and benefits their […]

Administaff Pays $115,000 For Religious Bias

Administaff, Inc., a nationwide company that provides full-service HR services to small and medium-size businesses, has agreed to pay $115,000 and furnish substantial remedial relief to settle a religious harassment lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Baltimore. According to the EEOC’s suit, Texas-based Administaff and Conn-x, LLC, a Florida-based cable service […]

Maintaining Your Competitive Edge

You should encourage and manage diversity in your workplace — not because it’s politically correct (and the right thing to do), but because it helps you improve and maintain your competitive advantage. Today’s fast-paced business world and ever-changing technology have taken employers beyond traditional boundaries, sometimes forcing you to adjust to differences in culture quickly. […]

Does Banishing Scents Make Sense at Work?

It seems that the number of people with allergies or sensitivities to various scents and smells has grown substantially. Some of those allergies can be severe, causing severe respiratory difficulties and other serious health issues. Questions continue to arise about the often competing rights of allergic employees and coworkers who wish to be able to […]

DOL Examines English Proficiency Project

The Department of Labor (DOL) has released a report evaluating its Limited English Proficiency and Hispanic Worker Initiative project.The program was launched in 2006 with $4.9 million awarded to organizations in California, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, and Texas so they could test innovative strategies for delivering language and employment services to limited English proficient and […]