News

In documents asking the race of employee, can I ask their race if I’m not sure?

That’s one of the sexist questions the EEOC alleges Waste Industries—a solid waste removal, recycling and landfill service provider—repeatedly asked female job applicants. As a result, the company agreed to pay $3.1 million to settle the agency’s pattern-or-practice sex-discrimination claim.

Why “dead-naming” a transgender employee and assigning undesirable tasks only to minorities could land you in court.

It can be frightening to hear an employee has launched a federal discrimination lawsuit. Headlines emphasizing multimillion-dollar jury verdicts don’t help. Here’s what’s at stake should an employee win a discrimination lawsuit.

Here’s a reminder that HR needs to train supervisors and managers on ageist attitudes and comments. Even one or two isolated comments that could be viewed as criticism based on an employee’s age can be enough to justify an Age Discrimination in Employment Act lawsuit if there are other indications of favoring the young.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear three important employment-law cases in its 2024–2025 term, which began Oct. 7 and will end in late June 2025.

The EEOC filed 110 lawsuits challenging unlawful employment discrimination in fiscal year 2024, placing an emphasis on what a commission statement called “emerging issues and advancing the employment rights of underserved and vulnerable workers.”

If you need a reason to stamp out workplace name-calling, discriminatory work assignments and retaliation, consider the massive punitive-damages award a jury recently granted to an employee who sued because of ongoing racist behavior by a supervisor. 

When a judge or jury finds your client dishonest, they've decided your fate.

Managers deciding who to let go when faced with a RIF might be tempted to consider the total cost savings represented by each worker on the layoff list. That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.