Discrimination
« Previous EntriesThere Are Better Ways to Enforce A Dress Code
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010Why do these kinds of cases only happen in Texas? In a head-scratching act of stupidity, the president of hatmaking company near Wichita Falls, Crowell Contract and Design, pulled a female employee’s pants down in front of her coworkers.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was not amused. It sued on the female employee’s behalf, claiming that [...]
What is the Maximum Leave an Employee Can Take?
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Sears Roebuck & Co. recently settled with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission a class-action lawsuit for $6.2 million, the largest monetary award for a single Americans With Disabilities Act (”ADA”) suit in EEOC history.
The accusation against Sears was that the company discriminated against the disabled because it had an inflexible policy that allowed injured employees [...]
EEOC Ordered to Pay Employer’s Attorneys’ Fees
Monday, March 1st, 2010Many employers have felt victimized by the federal government’s sometimes overzealous enforcement efforts on behalf of employees against the companies they work for. For example, the current trend regarding any compensation mistake by the employer is to label it “wage theft” and prosecute the employer like a common purse snatcher. (Click here for more information [...]
Women Still Hitting Heads on Glass Ceiling
Monday, February 8th, 2010At the end of 2009, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) settled a class action lawsuit against Outback Steakhouse for $19 million. What kind of claim was worth so much money? It was an old-fashioned glass ceiling sex discrimination suit.
The EEOC said that Outback denied women equal opportunities to advance within the corporation’s restaurants, particularly [...]
2011 Budget Means More Enforcement Against Employers
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010I’ve been trying to get the word out to employers for the last several months that the executive branch of the federal government has employers who violate any of the federal employment laws in its sights (click here for an earlier blog post on enforcement efforts). Money for enforcement is pouring into federal agencies like [...]
Feds Increase Enforcement Against Employers
Monday, November 30th, 2009The Bush administration made significant changes in the laws affecting employers, most significantly to the Americans with Disabilities Act, which now treats almost every employee as disabled and provides enormous protection from discrimination to employees. I’ve written before about the laws that were changed during the Bush years and what employers should do to protect [...]
Taos Hotel Owner Provides Lessons in What Not To Do
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009The Associated Press published a story on October 26, 2009, that confirmed that racism is still alive and well in the United States and there is still a need for the workplace discrimination laws.
It seems that Larry Whitten bought a dilapidated hotel in Taos, New Mexico and quickly discriminated against his employees and enraged the [...]
Relativity in the Workplace
Monday, September 28th, 2009There is an old Hollywood story that warns of family-run businesses:
Despite their joint ownership (with Albert and Sam) of Warner Brothers studios, little love was lost between Jack and Harry Warner (who once chased Jack around the Warner Brothers lot brandishing a lead pipe, threatening to bludgeon him).
Albert Einstein was given a tour of the [...]
Keep An Employee Disciplinary Log
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009In the May 2009 San Antonio appeals case of Cantu v. Frito-Lay, Inc., the employer beat a discrimination charge by a former employee because the company kept good records of the kinds of disciplinary action applied to employee misconduct and the reasons such actions were taken.
I often advise employers to keep a running log of [...]
Popular Culture in the Workplace May Be Inappropriate
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009Michael’s co-worker liked rap music. He liked it so much that he constantly played it and rapped along. Even though the songs contained the “N-word”. Even though Michael is African American. Even though Michael complained several times over a year’s time to his supervisors that the lyrics he was forced to listen to were offensive.
Because [...]