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The Employer Handbook BlogHow an Employer Survived a Discrimination Claim After Violating Its Own Hiring Policies
The city’s civil-service commission told it to follow its own hiring policies. It didn’t. It still won.
Articles Posted in Age
Can an Employee Turn a Completed PIP Into an Age Discrimination Claim?
Put simply, a performance improvement plan is designed to improve performance, not expose employers to liability. Courts used to see it that way too. That changed when the Supreme Court redefined what counts as an adverse employment action — and suddenly PIPs were in play.
TL;DR: An IT employee placed on a three-month performance improvement plan that she successfully completed did not suffer an adverse employment action under the ADEA. The First Circuit, applying the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, held that a PIP constitutes an adverse action only if it actually changes the terms or conditions of employment — and this one didn’t. The court also rejected the employee’s constructive discharge claim, finding that quitting ten months after finishing the PIP, with no one telling her to leave and no evidence of intolerable conditions, did not amount to a forced resignation.
Can “I Felt Pressured” Undo a Signed Severance Release?
She signed a severance release, collected her benefits, and then sued anyway. The Sixth Circuit just explained why that didn’t work – and why the employer’s paperwork made all the difference.
Can employers make employees sign a contract shortening the time to bring Title VII and ADEA claims?
Some employers try. The Fourth Circuit just explained why that trick doesn’t work for these federal discrimination claims. Continue reading
Mechanical Bull Bartending and the Age Bias Lawsuit That Never Got Off the Ground
The job requirements were… a lot: craft-beer exams, choreography, flair tricks, social media posts, and a “weight proportional to height” standard. Oh, and a mechanical bull. Eighteen longtime bartenders said the whole thing skewed younger. The court said their lawsuit had a more basic problem. Continue reading
Shifting Reasons and Skipped Steps — and Why the Employer Still Won
Two arguments show up in almost every termination lawsuit: that the employer’s reason changed, and that it didn’t follow its own policy. The Eleventh Circuit recently explained why neither argument, without more, is enough to get a case to a jury. Continue reading
No posting, no application, still a lawsuit: Age bias and quiet promotions
Sometimes promotions move quietly through the ranks.
No job posting, no formal applications, just a quiet internal decision.
A recent Ninth Circuit decision reminds employers that even those informal moves can create risk under the age-discrimination laws. Continue reading
“I Wonder How That Would Work”: The Interview Question That Reopened a Sex-Discrimination Case
It’s the kind of line you say when you’re thinking out loud, not realizing that your thoughts are about to become Plaintiff’s Exhibit A. Continue reading
How careless leadership talk can tip a discrimination case
A recent Eleventh Circuit decision is a good reminder that repeated remarks from leadership about wanting “younger” workers can become powerful evidence of discrimination. Even when an employer points to other reasons for its decisions, a jury may not buy them if the paper trail does not line up. Continue reading
Think the ADEA Covers All Hiring Bias? Not So Fast.
Most HR professionals and lawyers know the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) bars refusing to hire someone because of age. But what about hiring policies that look neutral on their face, like experience caps or “recent graduate” preferences, that end up screening out older candidates? Courts have not agreed on whether the ADEA lets applicants challenge those practices. Congress is now stepping in with a bill to make the answer clear. Continue reading