News

Ignoring an employee’s complaints that she was subject to ongoing sexual harassment just cost an employer more than $2 million. The EEOC sued on the employee’s behalf and won the largest damages award it has ever obtained in the Northern District of Texas, among the most conservative federal courts in the nation.

The confidentiality of women’s reproductive health-care choices has taken on new urgency for some since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reversed Roe v. Wade. HIPAA beefed up its privacy rule as it relates to women’s reproductive health-care choices, and this rule becomes effective Monday, Dec. 23.

Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for employees to claim discrimination even if their employer’s actions didn’t substantially harm them. Now, the same reasoning from the Muldrow v. St. Louis decision is being applied to the ADA.

Lauren McFerran’s term expired Dec. 16, leaving President-elect Donald Trump free to install a Republican majority and potentially turn the NLRB into a business-friendly administrative agency.

Insider threats—security risks originating within your own workforce—are on the rise and could seriously harm your organization’s finances, reputation and operations. HR professionals hold the key to tackling cybersecurity challenges head-on. Here’s how.

As we prepare for the new Trump administration to take office, we are taking a look at what changes to expect for each executive agency that will affect employment law. These include the EEOC, the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board. First up is the EEOC.

When interviewing more than one candidate to fill a job, the easiest way to prevent failure-to-hire lawsuits is to ask the same questions of every candidate. That’s especially important when there are several rounds of interviews or when a committee conducts the interviews.

Questions about maximum time off and continuing allotments after a job anniversary.

Big crowds and shortages of hot toys and other gifts along with increased stress on the part of customers and employees alike can lead to violence as tempers flare. Your regular employees may have encountered this before and know how to de-escalate these situations. But that’s not likely with new, largely untrained holiday staff.

The federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act lets employees sue at any time for pay discrimination if their current paycheck reflects past discrimination. Thus, if a female employee discovers she’s being paid less than a man doing the same work, she can sue and receive back pay for at least two years’ worth of discriminatory paychecks.