A job applicant told a polygraph examiner that she consumed ayahuasca as part of her religion. An agency adjudicator labeled it “recent illegal drug use,” and the tentative job offer disappeared.
The employee asked for help completing his work. Months later, the unfinished work became the reason for firing him. Continue reading
Browse the headlines about DEI-training backlash lawsuits and they usually go one way: a white employee gets offended and sues over it. This one, initiated by the EEOC, ain’t that at all.
Workplace profanity was business as usual, right up until it accompanied a complaint about racism.
A supervisor approved the employee’s hairstyle at her interview, then sent her home for wearing it on day one. A federal appeals court says the case over what happened next isn’t finished, for either side.
A supervisor swore in an affidavit that he had no idea an employee was disabled. His own meeting notes said otherwise, and that contradiction just cost a Texas community college its win.
An employer told the EEOC one story to get a discrimination charge dismissed as too late. It told the court a different story to win summary judgment. The judge noticed.
Roughly one in ten of a railroad’s train and engine employees marked off using FMLA leave on Christmas Day. The railroad ran that spike through an algorithm, then a hearing, then a dishonesty finding, and a federal court just said a jury needs to check that whole chain.
She reported the harassment and lost her job. Her supervisor testified that the man she reported wasn’t disciplined; he got training instead.
Last year, a jury hit the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the professional association many HR practitioners look to for certifications and guidance, with a $10 million punitive damages verdict. Now its own insurance company says that’s SHRM’s bill to pay, not theirs.
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