Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
We all understand that filing a discrimination charge with a government agency is protected activity, but one employee recently claimed that withdrawing such a charge is also protected. Read on to see how the court responded to that novel approach.
What if a manager accused of unlawful discrimination based on employees’ religion asserts that the complaint itself is an act of harassment? You owe duties all around, and you may not be able to perform one duty without risking a violation of the other. See how one employer successfully avoided that minefield.
A federal judge in Shreveport, Louisiana recently allowed a former employee’s Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) lawsuit alleging interference and retaliation to proceed to trial after he was terminated for an alleged attendance policy violation during his previously approved intermittent leave.
Recently, Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island heard a claim from a female employee who says she was placed on a paid suspension after announcing that she was pregnant.
A federal judge in Aberdeen, Mississippi recently heard an employee’s claims that she was rescheduled to the graveyard shift as a result of discrimination and that she had been subjected to a hostile work environment.
With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), federal law required employers with more than 50 employees to provide breastfeeding employees a private location, other than a toilet stall, where they can express breast milk in privacy. And, of course, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) has prohibited discrimination “on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, […]
A recent opinion from the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming—involving Tulsa, Oklahoma’s American Airlines facility is a reminder of the kind of evidence required to establish retaliation.
by Mark I. Schickman In all of the attention recently given to Harvey Weinstein and his ilk, the focus has been on personalities and far too little of it on the systemic problem of ubiquitous sexual harassment. The discussion has been centered on punishment, with far too little said about the cure. Weinstein himself presents […]
by Charlie Plumb The courts, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) hold differing views on whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or sexual identity. Nevertheless, on November 20, an Oklahoma City federal court jury awarded a transgender […]
There’s no shortage of reminders these days that harassment is still a major issue for employers. And it’s particularly challenging, as we’ve seen all too often lately in the news, when an executive is a harasser or a company culture implicitly condones or perpetuates sexual harassment or a hostile work environment. So, what can HR […]