Last night, I came across a court decision that raised some eyebrows. The case involved a black employee who alleged that his white supervisor used racial slurs, including the n-word, and that the same slur was found written on a bathroom wall. He reported harassment and felt that his concerns…
ICYMI, President Trump has issued an Executive Order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” This order aims to eliminate illegal discrimination and preferences based on race and sex in federal policies and practices, with significant implications for private businesses. Here’s what human resources professionals, employment lawyers, and business…
Recently, a federal magistrate judge found sufficient evidence to support the ‘cat’s paw’ theory, a concept that should be on every HR professional’s radar. What is the Cat’s Paw Theory? The ‘cat’s paw’ theory holds an employer liable for the discriminatory actions of a non-decision-making employee if those actions influence…
Imagine you’re at school, and there’s a teacher who always picks on you, blames you for things you didn’t do, and makes you feel terrible in front of your classmates. You might think, “This is so unfair! I want to tell someone and make it stop!” Well, grown-ups at work…
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently dissected a bariatric surgeon’s discrimination claims. The surgeon alleged that his former employer discriminated against him based on his race and color when it favored another surgeon who allegedly harassed the plaintiff. However, the plaintiff misdiagnosed the situation. Let’s…
Suppose your company hires a black man only to fire him less than a year later. If the man claims that his race motivated the termination decisions, would arguing that the same person made both employment decisions create a viable defense? It’s called the “same-actor inference.” As a New York…
Employers don’t have crystal balls. Last week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the well-settled rule that when one coworker accuses another of creating a hostile work environment, that claim will fail ten times out of ten unless the employer knew or should have known about the harassment but…
An employer’s statements about a successful job candidate’s “minority status, the American Dream, and the value of diversity” were not enough to show that it discriminated against an unsuccessful white candidate, ruled a New Jersey federal court recently. The case involved two police officers who were interviewing to become the…
A recent Eleventh Circuit decision serves as a sobering reminder to employers why a plausible claim — a mere inference of bias – is all it takes for a plaintiff to pursue discrimination claims. The plaintiff is a white guy in his late 50s. In a complaint he filed in…
I’ll go ahead and file this one under: “Ya think?” But perhaps I’m getting out over my skis. So, let’s see what you think. The employee was a bank teller who filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against her employer. She later resigned, claiming…