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The Employer Handbook BlogYou Investigated the Harassment. Did the Response Work?
A meeting, a report, and a camera gave this employer plenty to describe. The employee’s testimony about what happened afterward gave a jury something to decide. Continue reading
Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment
Can Refusing a Settlement Meeting Support a Retaliation Claim?
A boss wanted to discuss settling an employee’s harassment claims without lawyers present. That invitation came with more baggage than the calendar entry suggested. Continue reading
Greetings From Mexico. About That Sick-Leave Policy…
A Mexico vacation while on sick leave is an easy headline. The employer’s defense required a closer look at two separate decisions.
A Changing Termination Explanation Didn’t Sink This Employer’s Defense.
A termination letter can become a vocabulary quiz once litigation starts. Every changed adjective gets its own exhibit.
The EEOC’s Anti-American Discrimination Priority Gets a Red-Highlighted Example
If you want the EEOC’s attention, do this: send an email — in red highlight — seeking “ONLY H1B” applicants. It’s one of the allegations in a new federal lawsuit, part of the agency’s push against anti-American bias.
Can a Paid Suspension Trigger a Sex Bias Verdict? This One Did.
The university kept paying its softball coach during an investigation. Its no-contact order also stopped her from teaching, and the suspension became a $300,000 sex bias judgment.
When DEI training becomes part of a hostile workplace claim
A federal judge dismissed this white employee’s hostile workplace claim last year. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit considered the alleged training remarks alongside years of workplace incidents and gave the claim new life. Continue reading
The Pride Flags Came Down. Why the Title VII Claims Did Too.
Pride flags came down. Pride stickers were covered and prohibited. An LGBTQ+ student club received extra field-trip scrutiny. That is how three teachers described the pattern in their complaint. Continue reading
“Not Crazy About White People” Allegedly Appeared in an HR Report. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
The employer hired an outside investigator to examine workplace concerns. A former HR employee later relied on what the investigator allegedly documented to support her own bias claims.
HR Is Not a Theology Department. Here’s How to Review Religious Accommodation Requests.
HR can ask an employee to explain a religious conflict. The trouble begins when the review turns into a theological examination.