Tag: evidence

age discrimination

Does ‘Little Old Lady’ Have an Age Discrimination Case?

The 6th Circuit recently focused on comments made by an employee’s former supervisor shortly before her termination, including ageist name-calling and comments about her retirement. The court held she produced sufficient evidence of discrimination to bring her case to trial.

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Military Service Laws Require More Than Just Granting Time Off Work

A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit—which covers Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee—highlights that an employer can be sued for violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) based on statements by managerial employees that reflect a bias against taking leave for military service, even though the […]

ADA Prohibits Bias Against Employees Who Are ‘Regarded As’ Disabled

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of their disabilities. A covered disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. That protection also extends to employees who are simply “regarded as” having a disability.

IT

Protecting Data from Departing Employees (or Why I Love Auditing and Access Restrictions)

Countless formal and informal studies show that most employees retain at least some company data when they leave a job. The reasons vary from the benign (such as when an employee inadvertently keeps a work flash drive) to the more malicious (such as in the case of an employee’s deliberate theft of company trade secrets […]

6 Principles of Successful Storytelling

To tell stories successfully, we need to understand a little about why stories connect and a lot about how to build that connection through listening and storytelling.

ERISA

Court Vacates $16M Judgment Against Cigna for Recouping Overpayments

A federal appeals court vacated a judgment totaling more than $16 million against a health plan administrator for its actions in attempting to recoup overpayments to an out-of-network hospital. The case is Conn. Gen’l Life Ins. Co. v. Humble Surgical Hosp., LLC, 878 F.3d 478 (5th Cir., Dec. 19, 2017).

discrimination

Pretextual Failure to Promote Produce Worker Is a Recipe for Disaster

HR professionals are all too familiar with the McDonnell-Douglas burden-shifting standard for establishing discrimination from circumstantial evidence. Under the standard, an employee presents a prima facie (minimally sufficient) case that he belongs to a protected class and suffered an adverse action. The employer then presents a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for its action, and he in […]

Conducting unbiased investigations: tips from the Russia probe

With the recent indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election is front-page news once again.  While most of the press and President Donald Trump’s initial tweets focused on whether Mueller could be fair and unbiased in his investigation, the most recent attacks on […]