News

With February comes Valentine’s Day, as good an excuse as any to review your policies so employees understand there are limits on how, where and when they can embrace the spirit of romance at work.

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.

Juries tend to harshly punish employers that ignore harassment complaints and let the abuse continue. But occasionally, a jury decides it’s not enough to punish the employer; they punish the harasser, too.

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You can have a robust set of rules designed to create a work environment free of discrimination and harassment, but if employees don’t follow the rules and supervisors don’t enforce them, they mean nothing.

With polling showing a neck-and-neck race to win the presidential election, employers should start paying attention to what the HR landscape may look like after a new president is sworn in next January.

Employers are liable for the sexual harassment of their employees unless they have a solid no-harassment policy.

The Supreme Court’s decision, Muldrow v. City of St. Louis lowered the standard for what constitutes sex discrimination, and substantially changed the rules on what employees must prove to win a discrimination case.

When those who are supposed to guarantee a bias-free work environment are the source of bias and harassment, that is a potent source of legal risk.

The EEOC continues to push an aggressively pro-employee agenda, and it’s committed to filing lawsuits against employers that violate anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws.