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In the United States, almost everyone is employed on what’s known as an at-will basis. That means an employer can fire an employee at any time for almost any legal reason or even no reason at all. It also means employees are free to quit at any time for any reason.
Managers need to understand at-will employment, especially if they have the authority to hire and fire employees. They can inadvertently destroy at-will status by implying that there is some sort of employment contract that protects an employee from being terminated.

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.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals with a physical or mental condition that substantially impairs a major life function may be entitled to a reasonable accommodation. Having a chronic and potentially deadly viral syndrome may impact one or more of these life functions. Someone with HIV/AIDS may have challenges that require accommodations.

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

Our team recently engaged in discussions with both current and former officials at Homeland Security Investigations, the workplace enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In these discussions, beyond learning about the widely publicized plans to declare a state of emergency and to involve the military and National Guard in deportation and worksite enforcement activity, we gained insights into a few of the government’s lesser-known plans.

There are lots of legitimate reasons employers might need to terminate employees. In all cases, HR must review the reason for the termination and ensure the decision will be defensible in court should the former employee decide to file a lawsuit.

Suppose an employee states she is going to be absent because she is not feeling well due to pregnancy and is going to see her doctor. We as her employer consider the day to be covered by the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, so there’s no need for a doctor’s note. But if she continues to need time off because she is not feeling well due to pregnancy, at what point have we moved from time off for a normal pregnancy symptom and into leave?

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.