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. Continue reading
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 can feel the same way when their boss or coworkers mistreat them. But, like in school, not every mean thing a teacher or classmate does is against the rules. Sometimes, it must be really bad for the grown-ups to get help from the law. Continue reading
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 explore why his arguments flatlined.
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? Continue reading
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 failed to take prompt and adequate remedial action. It’s otherwise known as respondeat superior liability.
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. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
Yesterday’s post discussed how direct evidence “proves impermissible discriminatory bias without additional inference or presumption,” i.e., the proverbial smoking gun. But smoking gun evidence in discrimination cases is rare. Employers aren’t out there telling employees that their race will cost them their jobs.
Well, most employers, that is. Continue reading
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