Yesterday, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that a Pennsylvania-based construction company will pay $50,000 and furnish other relief to settle a retaliation lawsuit. According to the EEOC, a human resources manager received and subsequently investigated a complaint of sexual harassment against the company’s general manager. The EEOC alleged…
Yesterday, we discussed unconscious bias training in the workplace. Today, we’ll talk about an employer that may need some if the allegations in a recently filed complaint against it are true. According to the complaint filed in Michigan state court earlier this month, a 27-year-old African-American man from Detroit applied…
A company fired an employee who objected to completing mandatory unconscious bias training. He claimed retaliation, but an appellate court disagreed and dismissed his lawsuit. I’ll explain why. In 2020, a company official emailed all employees with the subject line: “Continue to Fight for Social Justice.” In the body of…
The Americans with Disabilities Act makes employers responsible for reasonably accommodating individuals with disabilities unless doing so will create undue hardship. However, accommodating employees with disabilities is not a perfect science. Fortunately, a recent Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision provides employers with some helpful tips. The case involves an…
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that an employee claiming discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 need only show that their employer treated them worse than someone else because of a protected characteristic such as race, gender, or national origin. Last week, a federal…
Earlier this month, a federal appellate court poked holes in what many considered an infallible employer defense to employee discrimination claims known as the “good-faith belief” doctrine. Generally, when an employer believes that an employee engaged in behavior that warrants termination of employment, an employee who claims discrimination will lose…
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its 40-year-old decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which had lawyers buzzing and many others wondering what the big deal with Chevron is anyway. I’ll explain. What is Chevron? In Chevron, the Supreme Court had to decide whether the Clean Air Act…
An employee in his early sixties worked under several managers, one of whom referred to the employee as “my b***h,” “motherf****r,” “old fart,” and “old motherf****r.” Upon seeking a raise, another manager told him that he was making too much money already and that “knowledge [did] not matter.” The employee…
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently sued an employer who told an employee to leave on her first day of work shortly after she requested reasonable accommodations for her visual impairments and later fired her the same day after the employee’s advocate offered to pay for accommodations. Here’s more…
Federal circuit courts are split over whether former employees may sue their employers under the ADA for discrimination in the provisions of post-employment benefits. Two say they can; four say they can’t. Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed to resolve the matter. It will do so at the request of a…