Late last week, Rachel Dolezal, the President of the Spokane Chapter of the NAACP and a leader in the black community, was outed by her parents as being white. The controversy caught a lot of people by surprise, most notably, the Spokane Chapter. Amidst a flurry of activity over the weekend — just…
An employee was caught on video saying to black employees, “Hey, did you bring enough KFC for everyone?” and “Hey, anybody smell that? I smell fried chicken and watermelon.” The company had a strict anti-harassment policy. So, after learning about the comments, the company fired the employee. So, what would…
Last year, I channelled Bill Clinton in this blog post about how courts rarely recognize a single incident or two as creating what the law deems a hostile work environment. Yeah, about that. Even a few isolated comments can create a hostile work environment. In Boyer-Liberto v. Fontainebleu Corp. (opinion here), the full panel…
Where do I find these cases, you ask? Well, I sold my soul, and a stack of Billy Ripken baseball cards, to the devil a long time ago. I ain’t telling. But seriously, this case isn’t so much about the particular facts… White employee tosses banana peels at work Black employees complain…
About a year ago, I blogged here about a dreadful Sixth Circuit opinion, in which the court concluded that the plaintiff may have a discrimination claim for receiving the specific transfer he requested (after having interviewed for the position). Now, if you read the comments on my post, you’ll see…
I’m talking about a $620,000 jury verdict and nearly $165,000 in attorney’s fees. Let’s discuss reverse-race discrimination after the jump… * * * Let’s get one thing clear. Anyone can be a victim of discrimination. And when it comes to race, we’re talking black, white, brown, whatever. Case in point,…
One employer appears to have screwed up royally. Click through to find out how. * * * Clickbait lede? Ok, you got me. It seems to be part of a trend this week. Because there are several things you don’t do if an employee reports a noose in the workplace,…
You have an employee handbook, an anti-harassment policy, training, the whole nine. But, sometimes, notwithstanding your best efforts to create a positive, respectful workplace, you receive a complaint from an employee who claims to be the victim of harassment based on [insert protected class]. All the prophylactic measures you’ve already…
On the clock or off, when employees do dumb stuff on Facebook, it could cost them their jobs. And, apparently, their discrimination claims against their former employer too. Yep, another employee screwed up online. Go figure. More on that after the jump… * * * In Brown v. Tyson Foods,…
The Benjamin Moore color gallery contains, among others, Clinton Brown and Tucker Chocolate. My virgin ears! I mean, how racist can you get?!? Or, so says Clinton Tucker, a former Benjamin Moore employee, who filed a complaint in New Jersey state court in which he alleges that these paint names…