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The Employer Handbook BlogAn employer cannot rely on a contract to discriminate
Earlier this month, an employer learned the hard way that it could not rely on a contract provision to greenlight discrimination.
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Articles Posted in Age
An employer got sued for age bias. It admitted wanting to advance younger employees. It prevailed. HOW?!?
The U.S. Army employed a “septuagenarian civilian doctor.”
Well, at least it used to. Continue reading
2.4 million reasons not to intentionally avoid hiring older workers
I was going to title this one: “Sorry, I’m pretty sure that’s not how diversity, equity, and inclusion works.”
It’ll make sense in a second.
Your employees’ arbitration agreements may look a lot different soon (all crumpled up in a trash can)
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) announced the introduction of the bipartisan Protecting Older Americans Act. The legislation would invalidate forced arbitration clauses that require employees to arbitrate claims of age discrimination, whether for disparate treatment, disparate impact, harassment, and retaliation. Continue reading
That time a federal appellate court schooled a teacher on at-will employment
A schoolteacher who got promoted to Assistant Head of School, only to have her position eliminated, felt that the school should have explored other alternatives. She believed this demonstrated a pretext for age discrimination.
She was wrong. Continue reading
A day late and an age discrimination claim short
A 30-plus-year employee found out the hard way that missing a deadline — by just 24 hours — to arbitrate her claim against her former employer under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act is enough to lose it forever when her brief delay violates the plain terms of an arbitration agreement.
What happens when everyone in the same position is over 60 and gets fired?
Is it age bias? Or just business? Continue reading
Bad EEOC position statements can come back to haunt you. Just ask this employer.
There will come a time in your HR or employment law career when you must respond to a Charge of Discrimination filed with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by filing a position statement.
The EEOC has a great resource on effective position statements and stresses that the position statement should clearly explain the employer’s version of the facts. But here’s a bonus tip. Stick with whatever legitimate business decision the Charging Party mistook for an act of discrimination.
You’ll see what I mean in a second. Continue reading
Don’t let subjectivity, stereotypes, or statistics create age bias issues for your next RIF
Reductions in force are bad enough. Don’t let decisionmakers mishandle them and create litigation risks.