News

The state of Missouri is suing Starbucks, alleging that the coffee chain’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs are a “mere pretext for its actual commitment to unlawful discrimination.”

If it appears you’re pushing an employee out the door based on his age—or if you suddenly eliminate his position after discussing retirement—you’ll set yourself up for an age-discrimination lawsuit. Apply these tips to ensure well-intentioned conversations don’t trigger legal trouble.

A “microaggression” is a subtle, often unintentional comment or action that conveys bias or discrimination against a marginalized group. In the right circumstances, however, microaggressions can also amount to an adverse action that supports a workplace retaliation claim.

The EEOC is pursuing lawsuits over sex discrimination, age discrimination and failure to accommodate disabilities.

Courts recognize that employers must be free to manage their workforces as they see fit—with some limitations. But that live-and-let-live ethos changed when the Supreme Court issued its Muldrow v. St. Louis decision in April 2024.

If you use wearables to collect information about employees’ physical or mental conditions or for diagnostic testing, you may be conducting medical exams under the ADA.

Discriminating against applicants and employees because they serve or have served in the military is illegal. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act protects service members from discrimination in the workplace and requires employers to reinstate employees who are called to or volunteer for active-duty assignments.

Wearables in the workplace are mostly perceived as benign management tools, although some complain they represent a dystopian step toward Big Brother surveillance. Now the EEOC has weighed in with a fact sheet warning that wearables could enable or perpetuate workplace discrimination and suggesting how employers can mitigate liability.

It’s a new HR year and we’re here with some important lessons from the top four employment lawsuits of 2024. Don’t repeat these employer mistakes.

At the very least, avoid using the term in front of applicants or in any written materials describing them, such as interview notes. Rejected applicants could view the term as an age-related code word, thus sparking an age-discrimination lawsuit.