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.

FEHA

Americans first: Preference for foreign workers can run afoul of federal laws

by Jacob M. Monty Making good on promises from earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has begun cracking down on what it calls discrimination against U.S. workers who are being passed over in favor of temporary foreign workers. The DOJ recently announced a settlement with Carrillo Farm Labor, LLC, a New Mexico […]

Diversity and inclusion director gets a little inclusion

by Michelle Lee Flores The California Court of Appeal threw a solitary bone to Toyota’s director of diversity and inclusion when it reversed a trial court’s dismissal of his sexual orientation discrimination claim. The court of appeal held that the former employee had provided sufficient evidence that a senior manager’s perception that he was “too […]

Food bank works toward goals of diversity and inclusion

Editor’s note: Many organizations want to improve diversity and inclusion, but they don’t know where to start.  The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts is one such organization, and members of the organization’s in-house committee have provided this report on the first year of their program in the hope that other organizations can learn from their […]

Action needed to enforce workplace respect for others

by Dinita L. James Defiant public displays of racism and bigotry have been reported around Arizona. I haven’t witnessed such brazenness since my youth in rural North Carolina in the 1960s and early 1970s. I’m not saying that hearts and minds were changed, but the racists learned to whisper among themselves to avoid overwhelming public […]

Increase diversity by recruiting, retaining people with disabilities

by Stephanie Holstein Having a diverse workforce includes hiring people with disabilities, which can create a positive and inclusive work environment, be good for the bottom line, and help bring down the high unemployment rates of people with disabilities. There are a number of best practices and helpful resources to make recruiting and retaining people […]

Responding to restroom accommodation requests from transgender employees

by Brian Bouchard Fifty-two years ago, Bob Dylan penned the now-famous lyrics “The times they are a-changin’.” True enough, Mr. Dylan, but for many, changes come slowly, and as the late David Bowie sang: “The days still seem the same.” This can be true in regard to laws, which sometimes struggle to keep pace with […]

Employer can insist that ‘doctor’s note’ come from a doctor

by Jennifer Suich Frank and Samuel D. Kerr Q One of our employees went to a holistic healer who isn’t a certified healthcare practitioner, and he advised her that she needs a week off work. He won’t write her a doctor’s excuse and will only speak to someone via telephone. Our attendance policy states that missing […]

Be careful what you say: Employee’s name-calling lands him in hot water

by Franck G. Wobst An Ohio Court of Appeals recently ruled that a city’s civil service commission acted within its rights when it suspended a city employee for 45 days for jokingly calling an African-American coworker “Black Buck” and “Big Black Buck.” Facts James Hoover worked at the city of Elyria’s water pumping plant as […]

Dealing with hidden disability: Navigating protections for workers with addictions

Employers generally understand their obligations related to legal protections for people with disabilities. But not all disabilities are obvious, sometimes not even to those afflicted. Such may be the case when employees suffer from addiction to prescription drugs—a problem that’s been in the spotlight lately. And with good reason: The costs employers face related to […]

Millennials will transform management practices

by Jimmy Daniel Millennials, also known as Generation Y, have surpassed Generation X and Baby Boomers to become the largest group in America’s workforce, according to Pew Research Center’s analysis of the 2015 U.S. Census Bureau data. Not only are Millennials continuing to grow and dominate the workforce, but they are also starting to take […]