Showing posts with label EEOC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EEOC. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Temporary employees have permanent legal rights


Temporary employees do not leave their legal rights at your door. In fact, they enjoy the same rights as your permanent employees.

Consider, for example, EEOC v. Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA, in which an employer recently agreed to pay $65,000 to settle claims brought by a temporary employee that she was subjected to a sexually hostile work environment and fired after repeatedly complaining about it.

The allegations are not pretty.

LaToya Young began working as a temp at Massimo Zanetti in late January 2015. Within 10 days of starting her placement, a male co-worker began making sexually harassing comments to her:

  • Telling Young that he had "blue balls" and asking her "Why don’t you help me out with that?"
  • Telling Young that he wanted to "suck [her] bottom lip."
  • Telling Young that he wanted to have sex with her, often using lewd language.
  • Telling Young that he imagined himself engaging in sexual relations with her.
  • Telling Young that he would "ball [her] up like a pretzel" and would "have [her] screaming."
  • Grabbing his groin area while looking directly at her.
  • Blowing kisses at her.
  • Licking his lips and biting his bottom lip while looking at her.

Young complained three times to her supervisor. The harassment continued unabated after the first complaint. After the second complaint, Young alleges that her supervisor warned her that going to HR "would jeopardize her employment." After the third complaint, she was fired. 

According to EEOC Regional Attorney Kara Haden, "Employers must take appropriate action to stop harassment of all employees, including temporary workers." She adds, "We hope that this case sends a clear message that the EEOC will hold accountable employers who fail to protect all employees from workplace harassment."

Take heed of this lesson. Your temporary employees have the same civil rights as your permanent employees.


* Photo by Sunyu on Unsplash

Thursday, June 28, 2018

As our workforce ages, age discrimination is only going to worsen


Happy Golden Birthday, Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

On June 13, 2018, the ADEA turned 50.

To commemorate this milestone, the EEOC just released a report entitled The State of Older Workers and Age Discrimination 50 Years After the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

Thursday, November 9, 2017

9.8 million reasons to consider transferring a disabled employee to a vacant position


Photo by Taber Andrew Bain
Licensed via Creative Commons 
Earlier this month, American Airlines agreed to pay $9.8 million to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC.

The agency claimed that the employer’s return-to-work policy—which allegedly refused to consider transfers to open positions for disabled employees, but instead required the employees to apply for and compete for vacant position upon their return to work—violated the ADA.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Dads are parents, too — baby bonding and sex discrimination


Should new dad’s receive the same amount of time off from work to bond with their newly born child as do women? That is the question at the center of a lawsuit the EEOC recently filed against cosmetics giant Estée Lauder.

Monday, August 28, 2017

Letter to employees during EEOC investigation may violate discrimination laws


Suppose an employee files an EEOC charge of discrimination against you. And, further suppose that during the investigation, you receive a request from the agency for the name and contact information for all similarly situated employees. You correctly assume at the EEOC may use the information to contact your employees for investigatory interviews.

Do you—
  1. Allow the EEOC process to proceed; or
  2. Inform your employees of the nature of the charge, the EEOC investigation, that the EEOC may contact them, and that their participation would be 100 percent voluntary?
If you choose option “2”, you may have violated federal discrimination laws, at least according to a Connecticut federal judge.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

6th Circuit grants EEOC broad subpoena powers


The Witch: I’m not a witch! I’m not a witch!
Sir Bedevere: But you are dressed as one
The Witch: *They* dressed me up like this!
Crowd: We didn’t! We didn’t…
The Witch: And this isn’t my nose. It’s a false one.
Sir Bedevere: [lifts up her false nose] Well?
Peasant 1: Well, we did do the nose.
Sir Bedevere: The nose?
Peasant 1: And the hat, but she is a witch!
Crowd: Yeah! Burn her! Burn her! 
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
How wide of a net is the EEOC entitled to cast when issuing a subpoena for documents during an investigation? According to EEOC v. United Parcel Service, decided earlier this month by the 6th Circuit, the answer is a lot wider than you’d like.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Will new EEOC Chair usher in sweeping changes?


With a change in administrations comes a change at the head of various federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agency’s new chairperson, Victoria Lipnic, an EEOC Commissioner since 2010, is a Trump appointed Chairperson. So, with an eventual Republican-majority EEOC, will she undo the pro-employee policies of the Obama Democratic majority EEOC of the past eight years?


Thursday, January 5, 2017

Mandatory flu shots cost employer bigly


You may recall that in September I reported on a lawsuit the EEOC filed against a Pennsylvania hospital, alleging that it unlawfully fired six employees after denying their request for a religious exemption from the flu vaccine.

How did that case turn out for the employer? Not well. From the EEOC:

Thursday, December 15, 2016

When a self-fondling supervisor earns the nickname “Mr. Bojangles,” it’s not going to end well


The EEOC reports that it has sued Goodwill Industries of the East Bay Area for sexual harassment and disability discrimination, following allegations made by disabled female nightshift janitors against their supervisor. The allegations are … disturbing:

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

“Perceived” national origin discrimination may not be illegal, but…


Lost in the maelstrom of the last week’s FLSA overtime rule injunction was the news that the EEOC issued updated enforcement guidance on national origin discrimination.

The guidance, which replaces the EEOC’s older 2002 guidance and covers topic such as citizenship, language issues and English-only policies, and harassment, is recommended reading for all employers, as are the EEOC’s companion Q&A and small business fact sheet.

Let me point out, however, one area of contention—the issue of “perceived” national origin discrimination.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Federal court recognizes LGBT employment discrimination as illegal under Title VII


It’s been more than a year since the EEOC first announced that it would accept LGBT-discrimination charges as sex-discrimination charges under Title VII. Last week, the EEOC finally got a federal court to agree with its position in a LBGT-discrimination-is-sex-discrimination lawsuit.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

EEOC on Wellness Programs and EEO-1s


The EEOC has posted webinar recordings of two significant new rules: Wellness and EEO-1 requirements.


Monday, October 31, 2016

Feds publish a Halloween trick for employers


Have you seen Worker.gov? It is a how-to manual for employees to file charges with the full gauntlet of federal labor-and-employment agencies―EEOC, NLRB, OSHA, and DOL Wage-and-Hour Division.


Thursday, October 20, 2016

Is social recruiting discriminatory?


Yesterday, I noted that the EEOC is examining the impact of “big data” on how employers reach employment decisions.

Looking at an issue and doing something about it, however, are two entirely different animals. I wonder what business the EEOC has looking at this issue at all. The EEOC’s mission is to eliminate discrimination from the workplace. Certainly, there is no claim that neutral data points intentionally or invidiously discriminate based on protected classes.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

EEOC reiterates its enforcement priorities for the next four years


Earlier this week, the EEOC announced its updated Strategic Enforcement Plan for 2017 – 2021. So, what issues must employers have on their radar? From the EEOC’s press release:

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Don’t ignore unpaid leaves as a reasonable accommodation


Two recent EEOC lawsuits (here and here) illustrate the risk employers continue to take when they deny unpaid leaves of absence to employees as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.

http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-10-21

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The most expensive bottle of orange juice ever


Today, I bring you a first for the blog. A magic trick. Read along as the EEOC transforms a $1.69 bottle of OJ into $277,565.

I’ll let the EEOC explain it’s own magic:

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Can you require flu shots for your employees?


As the calendar winds its way into autumn, and as the temperature starts to trend downward, we move into flu season. Which is why should pay special attention to this story from Employment Law 360:

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

What employers can learn from EEOC's new Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation


Yesterday, the EEOC published its final Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues. It’s the agency’s first formal guidance on this issue since 1998, and was long overdue. After all, according to EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang, “Retaliation is asserted in nearly 45 percent of all charges we receive and is the most frequently alleged basis of discrimination.” She adds, “The examples and promising practices included in the guidance are aimed at assisting all employers reduce the likelihood of retaliation.”

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

EEOC offers guidance for Youth@Work


Do you employee minors? If so, you should be aware of the wage-and-hour laws for child labor. The Department of Labor, however, isn’t the only federal agency taking a look at your under-18 employees. Recently, the EEOC launched an entire portal devoted to the issue.

The microsite, entitled Youth@Work, is the agency’s education and outreach campaign to promote equal employment opportunity for teenage workers.