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The Employer Handbook BlogNew employment laws may not just expose employers to liability; they may double it!
Among the top employment issues that companies will need to navigate in 2024 is enforcing laws that have more recently taken effect.
Articles Posted in Gender
“Oh, they paid you less than market value? Yes, we love your novel equal pay legal theory. Tell us more!”
If only a federal appellate court had reacted that way when a female plaintiff claimed an equal pay violation because she and other females were paid less than the “local industry standard.” But, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals wasn’t buying the ‘back-of-the-envelope math’ the plaintiff was selling.
Allow me to explain. Continue reading
In some places, federal antidiscrimination laws are much broader than you may realize
Last night, I read about a black female educator and school administrator who claimed that her employer agreed to pay for her to attend a training session but later reneged, instead offering to pay for her to attend in two years. So, she paid for it herself.
And then she sued her employer. Continue reading
Did you know that a bird — a macaw, specifically — can create a hostile work environment?
Last year, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued a long-term care facility claiming that certain White patients/residents repeatedly directed offensive racial slurs at black nurses and nurse assistants, including “n—-r,” “coon,” “monkey,” and “Black b—–s.” One patient repeatedly told Black employees to “go back to Africa,” followed Black employees throughout the facility to racially berate them, and physically assaulted Black employees because of their race.
Can we fire an employee who complains about discrimination and is dead wrong?
I mean, sure. It’s a free country. This isn’t Communist Russia.
But if your company is concerned about a subsequent retaliation claim, read on.
Does Title VII only cover ultimate employment decisions? Another federal appellate court doesn’t think so.
Imagine a business that gives its employees two days off each week. There’s nothing abnormal about that.
However, the company uses a sex-based policy to determine which two days an employee can pick. Only men can select full weekends off—women cannot. Instead, female employees can pick either two weekdays off or one weekend day plus one weekday; they never get an entire weekend off.
Is that discriminatory? Yes, But does this system violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it unlawful to discriminate at work based on sex? Continue reading
EEOC: HR Manager used code words and other directives to staffing agencies to discriminate.
A few weeks ago, I blogged here about how a federal appellate court concluded that firing someone who isn’t a ‘good fit’ isn’t necessarily a coded phrase for discrimination. Still, I generally recommend to clients that they be more direct when terminating someone’s employment by explaining the legitimate business reason(s) for the decision.
Similar issues may arise when companies make hiring decisions. Code words used to describe protected classes that reflect a company’s hiring preferences generally aren’t hard to crack. And then they become costly. Continue reading
Being denied coverage to use the bathroom (and a bunch of other stuff that isn’t discrimination)
When employees allege discrimination, they must prove an employer’s discriminatory motive and connect it to a particular adverse employment decision. An adverse action requires evidence of a significant change in employment status, benefits, or pay. Usually, the proof comes in the form of failure to hire, a firing, failure to promote, reassignment with significantly different responsibilities, or lost pay or benefits.
But, from a federal court decision I read last night, I’ve got a list of eight items that are not adverse enough on which to base a disparate treatment claim. Continue reading
How does an employee go from “promotable” to “expandable” to plaintiff claiming gender bias?
Litigators often counsel witnesses to answer, “I don’t recall,” rather than guess or speculate the response to a question at a deposition. But, sometimes, that approach can backfire. Continue reading
Not all discrimination lawsuits against airlines are worth $5M.
This one (unlike that one) wasn’t even worth five cents. Continue reading