“Uh, Eric, don’t you mean the superior candidate?” You’d think I would, but I’m reading what the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in this recent opinion. The plaintiff, a black woman, applied for a job. The company conducted two rounds of interviews, with separate panels in each round, to…
Some people in Dallas do some dumb stuff. For example, every year, many locals hold out hope into late December or early January that the Cowboys will win the Super Bowl. After their hopes get dashed when the team inevitably chokes, the fans irrationally board the bandwagon the following Summer.…
Yesterday, the U.S. Equal Employment Commission’s newest General Counsel, Karla Gilbride, told reporters that addressing discrimination in American workplaces relating to the Israel-Hamas skirmish is a top priority for 2024. On October 7, 2023, the terrorist organization Hamas staged the deadliest terrorist attack against Israel since the state’s establishment in…
I’m not the biggest fan of progressive discipline policies, which can often be too restrictive. Plus, deviations and inconsistencies in their application are ammunition for a plaintiff claiming discrimination to get to trial. But, when companies apply these policies to the letter, they create a formidable defense to these claims.…
You’re not a doctor. (Unless you’re a doctor.) So don’t act like one when deciding which of your employees may be a direct threat to others at work. (Unless you like defending Americans with Disabilities Act claims). Here’s an example. Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced (here)…
Among the top employment issues that companies will need to navigate in 2024 is enforcing laws that have more recently taken effect. Take the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, for example. The PUMP Act, which amended the Fair Labor Standards Act, took effect in December 2022. It provides additional workplace…
Since only the real ones are reading the blog this week, I must confess that it would be cool to patrol the office halls with a fake badge I ordered from Amazon to restore order and HR compliance to the workplace. But policing religion is where I must draw the…
Some jobs stink. But that doesn’t make the office a “hostile work environment.” For example, last night, I read about a manager whose employer transferred her to a unit facing a backlog of 12,000 cases. Following the transfer, the manager claimed she endured “constant negative treatment,” was the only one…
I’m going to tell you about what may be the least self-aware employee. At least in recent memory. But first, we need to talk about sex stereotyping. Sex stereotyping is a form of discrimination. Indeed, the Supreme Court has acknowledged that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…
Discrimination claims are not easy to prove. But, it doesn’t take much for a plaintiff to at least allege in her complaint that her former employer discriminated against her. Except when all you plead are “vague and conclusory” allegations. For example, in a Fifth Circuit decision I read last night,…