President Trump appointed Commissioner Victoria A. Lipnic as acting Chair of the EEOC. Ms. Lipnic began serving as an EEOC Commissioner in 2010 after being nominated to serve by President Barack Obama. Mr. Obama again nominated her to serve a second term ending on July 1, 2020. As explained below, this is good news for
Honesty is an Employer’s Best Policy – Honest Defense Rule in Employment Discrimination
A recent court decision shows that the “honest belief” rule continues to be a potent defense for employers responding to employment discrimination claims. And conversely, it continues to be a frustrating hurdle for employees to overcome in proving unlawful discrimination in the workplace.
Specifically, the honest belief of a Wal-Mart manager was found to protect
Corporate Religious Beliefs – A New Defense in Employment Discrimination Claims?
The tension between employment discrimination and religious freedom recently played out in a Michigan federal district court case. In that case, EEOC v. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, the employer’s religious freedom won out over the rights of a transgender employee. Specifically, the judge ruled that a metro Detroit funeral home did not
Rethinking Employee Performance Reviews
Does your company rely on performance reviews for evaluating and managing employees? Probably; performance reviews are a staple for human resource professionals when it comes to evaluating employee performance. Neuroscience, however, is calling into question the value of such reviews.
The Science Undermining the Value of Performance Reviews
Specifically, in “Risks of Reviews,“
Employers Cannot Afford to Ignore Even a Single Incident of Workplace Discrimination
A decision issued on October 22, 2015, denying an employer’s motion to dismiss a retaliatory discharge claim brought under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and state anti-discrimination laws offers two important lessons for employers:
- It is never a good idea to use Hitler, Nazis, or swastikas in your mandatory company seminars; and
Reversal of Jury Verdict in Religious Discrimination Lawsuit – Divine Intervention or Judicial Mistake?
A nursing home activities aide who was fired for refusing to pray the Rosary with a resident failed to prove job bias because she didn’t present sufficient evidence that her employer, Woodland Village Nursing Center Inc., knew before it decided to discharge her that plaintiff’s refusal to pray the rosary was based on her religious
Making a Federal Case out of Recording Conversations Involving Employment Discrimination
Here is something you don’t see happen everyday – an instance of “butt dialing” becoming a federal case.
Specifically, an inadvertently dialed cell phone call purportedly involving discussions about unlawful employment discrimination resulted in a federal lawsuit for intentionally intercepting private conversations in violation of Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Street
When Does an Employer Have Notice of an Employee’s Need for Religious Accommodation?
As an employment law nerd, I often get giddy when there is a meaty employment law issue being addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court (hopefully Justice Ginsburg took it easy on the sauce prior to oral arguments). But today I’m especially giddy because the Supremes are hearing arguments in the case captioned EEOC v. Abercrombie
Legal and Business Concerns in Responding to Employee Religious and Moral Objections
Employers are often on the verge of becoming caught up in a firestorm when it comes to the religious and moral beliefs of employees. On the one hand there is the legal risks. But on the other, no business owner wants his or her business to be “trending” as the subject of a divisive public
Why I Write: Reflections of the Michigan Employment Law Advisor
Last week I was pleasantly surprised when I was included in something called a “blog hop” which is sort of analogous to what people of a certain age call a “chain letter.” The blog hop, however, is focused on a common theme. Also common to this particular blog hop is that the chain