An employee just made a complaint of harassment or discrimination. You know you have a duty, as the employer, to investigate the employee’s complaint, but aren’t entirely sure how to conduct the investigation. Here are a few tips: 1. Understand the complaint. Take time to listen to the employee’s complaint. Understand what the employee is [...]
On Monday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Vance v. Ball State University. The issue decided was which employees constitute "supervisors" for the purpose of applying Title VII anti-discrimination laws. I previously discussed the importance of this question. In a 5-4 decision, the Court decided that an individual is a supervisor only if he [...]
The term "hostile work environment" gets used frequently by employers and employees. It's used in a so many contexts that it seems to have lost true meaning. Hostile work environment allegations range from employees being micro-managed to employees being ridiculed because of their sexual orientation. So what does hostile work environment mean and when is an employer liable [...]
Beside the fact that discriminating against prospective employees could land your company in litigation hot water, it may come back to bite you later on. Most people have heard of Roe v. Wade but haven't heard of Sarah Weddington, the attorney representing the woman seeking an abortion in Roe v. Wade. According to an ABA article, Weddington [...]
