The EEOC released its Annual Report on the Federal Workforce for Fiscal Year 2007 (period October 2006 to September 2007). For those employers who may be benchmarking against the federal government, it seems to me that the government performs at a level that the EEOC would never accept from other employers. Here is a sampling of
Revisiting Baseline Qualifications For Certain Positions: How Objective Qualifications, When Used Properly, Can Save The Day In Defending A Discrimination Claim
In Makky v. Chertoff, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently addressed the importance of objective job qualifications in evaluating the merits of a discrimination claim. Employers that establish clear baseline standards for position through their job descriptions, advertisements and other records are better able to defend discrimination claims by showing that the applicant
HR GENERALIST RESOURCES: EEOC Issues New Compliance Assistance on Religious Discrimination and Accommodation
On July 22, 2008, the EEOC issued a new section of its Compliance Manual addressing the subject of religious discrimination. The section "provides guidance and instructions for investigating and analyzing charges alleging discrimination based on religion." The new section does not change a Pennsylvania employer’s legal obligations, imposed by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
Legal System to Blame for Humorless Work Environment?
Hard economic times, perpetual threat of layoffs, workers stretched too thin could all be contributing to the “increasingly humorous American workplace” according to MSNBC author Eve Tahmincioglu in her post No joke! The workplace needs a good laugh. However, others are pointing to our legal system’s clamp down on “hostile work environments” as the cause
Switching to a Paid Time Off Program (PTO) has Practical and Legal Implications
Traditional leave programs segregate time off into categories like vacation, sick time and personal time requiring HR professionals to track both the time off and the reason it is being taken. Sick time abuses are addressed by tightly monitoring the reasons for sickness-related absences and disciplining employees for excessive absenteeism. Many employers have decided to get away
Violence in the Workplace: A Legal Perspective
HR professionals are reminded of their workplaces’ vulnerabilities every time an episode of workplace violence is reported in the media like this morning’s headline “6 dead in plastics factory shooting rampage.” The scope of the problem set out in statistics. There were 5734 workplace fatalities reported to OSHA (2005 is the last year
U.S. Supreme Court Decides Several Employment-Related Cases
On June 19, 2008, the United States Supreme Court issued four employment-related decisions that are briefly summarized as follows:
Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory: The government ordered its contractor to reduce its workforce. The contractor had its managers select employees for layoff based on factors including performance, flexibility, critical skills and seniority. The resulting
HR GENERALIST RESOURCES: THE FINAL PAYCHECK: Without Exception, It Should Be Paid On Time
The scenario is a common one. An employee quits or is discharged before the end of the pay period. The employer has the employee’s final paycheck, and the employee has certain property belonging to the employer (e.g., a uniform, laptop computer, cell phone). The employer explains to the employee that it will give the employee his/her final paycheck as
Job Duty of Getting Coffee for Boss is not Sexual Harassment and Early Departure With Pay is Not Actionable Retaliation
The act of getting coffee is not a gender specific act that can form the basis for a sexual harassment claim according to a recent court decision in Klopfenstein v. National Sales and Supply. The plaintiff had asserted that being compelled to perform what she considered to be a ‘servile task’ was, in and
On-Line Postings And Your Corporate Image: Can You Terminate Employees For Personal Postings?!?
Freedom of Speech is a right granted by The United States Constitution and enjoyed by all Americans. Employees exercising their free speech rights by blogging, posting on MySpace and YouTube may be surprised to learn limits of their Constitutional protections and should acquaint themselves with the term “dooced”.
Generally, employees of private sector employers have