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Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment

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Would you require a new C-Suite hire to affirm no history of discrimination at work?

We’re still got about a month and a half to go, and the list of notable sexual harassers (allegedly) is growing faster than my youngest can eat her peas. Often, when we hire high-level executives, we resort to employment agreements. And in those employment agreements, we include provisions requiring the…

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HR lessons from a cyclist fired for flipping off Trump’s motorcade

Image Credit: YouTube.com (screenshot) Juli Briskman was out riding her bicycle when she was passed on the road by Donald Trump’s motorcade. So, she showed ’em the middle finger. And, it was at that precise moment that a White House photographer traveling with the president as he left one of…

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5 more reasons why your workplace anti-harassment training is ineffective

“There’s Little Evidence Sexual Harassment Trainings Work,” wrote Madison Pauly in this article at Mother Jones. Ms. Pauly notes that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received over 162,000 EEOC Charges of Discrimination between 2010 and 2015. Plus, she cites a University of Oregon associate law professor’s study, which concluded that…

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The”Mark of the Devil” and the hellish cost to defend employment litigation

On the day before Halloween, a Pennsylvania federal court (here) denied an employer’s attempt to have a religious-accommodation case dismissed early. This isn’t your run of the mill religious-accommodation case. “The Book of Revelation prohibits the mark of the devil” The plaintiff, a school bus driver, alleges that she was…

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Will a jury ever find out if the EEOC concludes that a defendant-company may have discriminated?

Suppose that your former employee files a Charge of Discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After an investigation, the EEOC concludes that there is probable cause that your company violated one or more of the federal anti-discrimination laws that the agency is tasked with enforcing. So, your employee…

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While not quite Harvey Weinstein claims, the allegations about this workplace will make your head spin.

My turn-ons include fantasy football and this ugly holiday sweater, which I cannot wait to debut this season. I also dig smart legal writing. Although, one could never discern that by perusing my dumpster fire of a law blog. To start to fix that, today, I’m going to quote liberally from a…

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When an employee complaining about harassment tells a supervisor, “Let’s keep it between us for now.”

You’ve heard the expression “loose lips sink ships.” Well, the opposite holds true when an employee complains to a supervisor about workplace discrimination. You’ll see what I mean when we go back to yesterday’s post. That’s the one about the “unofficial” office happy hour that officially landed the employer in…

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The Employee’s claim: race bias. The evidence: noose, epithets, hooded sheet. The winner: Employer.

How?!?!?!?!? In McKinney v. G4S Government Solutions, Inc. (opinion here), an African-American employee claimed that his employer fostered a racially hostile work environment. Among other things, the plaintiff alleged that: a co-worker used the n-word in his presence; a fire chief told the plaintiff that the company had hired a “colored…

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If necessary, the ADA allows a company to make an employee see a doctor before returning to work.

No, it won’t violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. One of your employees is displaying erratic behavior at work. While you’re no medical expert, you feel as if the employee may become a threat to herself or others, if she isn’t already. So you place the employee on leave and require…