Notice anything potentially unlawful here? Yesterday, several of us spoke with The Philadelphia Inquirer about the problem with a local restaurant’s job ad discouraging trans men (and any women) from applying.
Articles Posted in Discrimination and Unlawful Harassment
Reasonable accommodations for disabled employees need to be reasonable, not perfect
I won’t bury the lede, which I’ll quote from the Fourth Circuit decision I read last night. The [Americans with Disabilities Act] requires reasonableness, not perfection. Reasonableness does not demand that an accommodation have an airtight solution to every contingency conceivable. Its dictates are tethered to the practical realities of…
Here are forty thousand reasons why “equal pay for equal work” applies to male victims too
A federal law called the Equal Pay Act requires that men and women in the same workplace receive equal pay for equal work. The jobs need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal. While women often seek relief under this statute, a state government agency learned the hard…
An employer’s response to a complaint of harassment doesn’t need to be perfect. Just ok may do.
Remember that AT&T ad campaign a few years ago where the mobile network provider touted how cell phone users should not have to settle for mediocre phone service? “Just ok is not ok.” In the workplace, however, “just ok” may be good enough when responding to employee complaints of harassment.…
Next time, maybe she’ll just get that tattoo.
Trust me. The title of this post will make sense in about a minute or two. Last year, a small sports bar and restaurant sought summary judgment to dismiss the age discrimination claims one of its former employees had asserted against the company. The company’s position was that it ended…
Did this guy’s performance really nose-dive? Or did his age motivate his abrupt termination?
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. One of your employees has been with the company for several years. Over that span, they reported to the same manager, who consistently provided positive feedback and good performance reviews. All is well. Then, the manager leaves. And there’s a new sheriff…
Employee claims bias when employer failed to hire an inferior candidate.
“Uh, Eric, don’t you mean the superior candidate?” You’d think I would, but I’m reading what the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in this recent opinion. The plaintiff, a black woman, applied for a job. The company conducted two rounds of interviews, with separate panels in each round, to…
A company supposedly awarded a black employee a trophy for “Least Likely to Be Seen in the Dark.” WTH?!?
Some people in Dallas do some dumb stuff. For example, every year, many locals hold out hope into late December or early January that the Cowboys will win the Super Bowl. After their hopes get dashed when the team inevitably chokes, the fans irrationally board the bandwagon the following Summer.…
The EEOC’s new General Counsel is targeting Antisemitism, Islamophobia. So should you.
Yesterday, the U.S. Equal Employment Commission’s newest General Counsel, Karla Gilbride, told reporters that addressing discrimination in American workplaces relating to the Israel-Hamas skirmish is a top priority for 2024. On October 7, 2023, the terrorist organization Hamas staged the deadliest terrorist attack against Israel since the state’s establishment in…
Even with DIRECT EVIDENCE of discrimination, the employee’s race bias lawsuit was DOA
I’m not the biggest fan of progressive discipline policies, which can often be too restrictive. Plus, deviations and inconsistencies in their application are ammunition for a plaintiff claiming discrimination to get to trial. But, when companies apply these policies to the letter, they create a formidable defense to these claims.…