Category: Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is an important and ongoing strategy of any HR plan. Ensuring that your company supports hiring, engaging, and retaining diverse workers with varied backgrounds will set your company up for long-term success and an increased bottom line. This topic offers the latest strategies for talent management, key insights from diversity leaders, case studies on D&I in the workplace, and more.

Solid job descriptions can ease ADA worries

Good job descriptions are vital in keeping employers and employees on the same page, but they take on added importance when an employee with a disability needs help being productive. And for employers facing disability discrimination claims, job descriptions that clearly outline the essential and nonessential functions of the job can be crucial.  Although the […]

Which comes first—the Apple or the egg?

by Mark I. Schickman Gender discrimination has been illegal for barely 50 years. Soon after the nondiscrimination law was passed, companies had to figure out how to address the gender gap and remedy the dearth of women in the workforce—especially in high-level career positions. Providing liberal leave benefits, on-site child care, women’s mentoring programs, and […]

Avoiding reverse disability discrimination claims

by Andy Rodman Q As part of my company’s diversity efforts, I would like to reach out to some disability advocate groups to try to fill a few vacant positions. I’m afraid that by doing so, I may be opening up the company to reverse discrimination claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Are […]

Tribal hiring preference not national origin discrimination

by Nancy Williams Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allows employers on or near an Indian reservation to give preferential treatment to Indians living in the vicinity. But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has taken the position that this provision doesn’t permit preference for members of a particular tribe. In the […]

wage gap

Tech giants exploring gender gap within their ranks

What gives? The number of women graduating from college each year passed the number of men marking the same achievement years ago, but women remain underrepresented in the college majors sought by technology employers. That surely accounts for part of the gender gap afflicting tech employers, but corporate culture also is often seen as a […]

Better with age: legal issues with the aging American workforce

by Allison B. Wannop It is undeniable that the American workforce is getting older or, shall we say, more mature. In The Aging U.S. Workforce, the Stanford Center on Longevity estimates that by 2020, workers 55 and older will make up a quarter of the U.S. labor force, up from 13% in 2000. As the […]

New HHS website provides tips for accommodating lactating employees

by Kate DeForest A lesser-known provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires employers that are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to provide a private area for mothers to nurse or express breast milk during the workday. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is making the requirement known with […]

Sundown to sundown: when employers must accommodate Sabbath-observing employees

by Gregory L. Silverman Religious accommodations in the workplace can be challenging for employees and employers to navigate. In our increasingly diverse and religiously pluralistic society, an employee’s religious practices may conflict with practices in the workplace. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against any individual with respect […]

Store needn’t accommodate F-bomb in aisle 7

by Kelly Smith-Haley Most employers know they have to make reasonable accommodations for an otherwise qualified employee with a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But you may not know that the task of determining what qualifies as a reasonable accommodation doesn’t fall solely on you. A recent court decision reminds employers and […]

Guidance for HR when racial tension spreads from streets to workplace

As protests rage around the country following recent grand jury decisions in Missouri and New York not to indict police officers involved in the deaths of two unarmed black men, employers may find tension spilling into the workplace. In November, a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of […]