Tag: gender discrimination

8 Ways Supervisors Can Foster Diversity

There’s an unfortunate truth HR professionals must deal with: It only takes one errant supervisor to undo all the hard work put into creating and perfecting polices and initiatives. Your company’s diversity initiative is no different. According to diversity consultant and founder of QUEST Diversity Initiatives LLC Natalie Holder-Winfield, you can’t just write up your […]

Change at the White House: What About the Workplace?

It’s going to be quite a week. Today, of course, is the national holiday that celebrates the birth of the legendary civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tomorrow, the nation and the world will witness history in the making as the first African-American is sworn in as President of the United States. Looking […]

Anchors Away

Another week without even a rerun, so to find something to write about, we turn to Steve Carrell’s movie catalogue. Anchorman proves to provide plenty of HR lessons — lessons that are strikingly similar to those we see with Michael Scott and gang in Scranton. LITIGATION VALUE: $1,000,000 (in pre-inflation, 1976 dollars). Obviously, there is […]

Where Is the Line on Retaliation after Supreme Court Rulings?

In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion expanding the range of employer conduct that employees could use to support a retaliation claim. But as with anything new, questions immediately arose. Is a dirty look now considered retaliatory? An off-putting e-mail? What about a humiliating public censure? This uncertainty left employers understandably concerned. But […]

Chair Model

LITGATION VALUE:  $6,000 – $10,000 Despite what you might think, Michael’s demand that all employees provide him with candidates to serve as the mother of his children does not violate any major employment law.  After all, Michael made the demand of all employees and not, for example, only female employees or employees of a particular […]

Ripped From The Headlines

Well, apparently Michael Scott has moved to Boston and obtained a medical degree.  Last week, the Boston Globe reported that a neurosurgeon at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital was suing for gender discrimination. Her evidence?  The antics of her boss, the chief of neurosurgery, who keeps an 8 inch sculpture of a penis and a […]

Family Responsibility Discrimination

Consider the following two scenarios: A male employee requests extended leave to provide at-home care to a sick child. Instead of evaluating the request based on his eligibility for leave, the employer questions why the child’s mother can’t care for her. A qualified female employee with two preschool children is considered a “poor fit” for […]