Tag: diversity

Adverse employment action because of accent is illegal

by Joseph Cooper Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids discrimination on the basis of national origin in any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, and job assignments. Because an employee’s accent or language skills are often associated with her national origin, employment decisions based on those characteristics are scrutinized closely by […]

EEOC releases FY 2014 enforcement stats

by Christopher J. Pyles According to newly released statistics from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the state in which the most administrative charges were filed in fiscal year (FY) 2014 was Texas, which had more than 8,000. Where did your state rank?  Discrimination by the numbers In February, the EEOC released enforcement and litigation […]

It’s time to get on the winning side of the sexual orientation issue

by Kylie Crawford, TenBrook Not long ago, I heard a story about George Wallace, Alabama’s governor in the 1960s and one of the leading advocates for Jim Crow laws and segregation. He is well-known for his “stand at the schoolhouse door,” where he attempted to prohibit two black students from registering for classes at the […]

Let’s talk about race: the death of Tony Robinson

by Saul Glazer The recent police shooting of Tony Robinson put Madison in the national headlines. Thankfully, unlike last year’s events in Ferguson, Missouri, the protests following Robinson’s death have been peaceful. However, the incident has once again put a spotlight on how we view race relations. This article discusses race relations in general and […]

DOJ is the latest federal agency to extend Title VII protection

by Leslie A. Sammon Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace discrimination by all private employers, state and local governments, and educational institutions with 15 or more employees. We are all familiar with Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination in the workplace. In recent years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), […]

Anatomy of an employment lawsuit: best HR practices to help you win

by Michael J. Modl Imagine you employ Rajesh Tank, an employee of Indian descent, as a regional VP. Other employees report that Tank engaged in unprofessional conduct that hurt team morale, showed favoritism toward certain employees, and pressured employees to hire a particular contractor. You investigate the allegations, find some truth to them, order Tank […]

Staying on solid legal ground when seeking brain diversity in the workforce

The benefits of diversity in the workplace are nearly universally touted. Human resources professionals are eager to assemble teams representing a variety of races, ethnicities, genders, and ages. But now another kind of diversity is gaining recruiters’ attention: brain diversity.  A December 2014 article on the Fortune website reports that companies are beginning to seek […]

The business case for diversity

by Kimberly Williams Recently, my employer, Baystate Health, organized a regional Diversity and Inclusion Conference. While promoting the event on social media, I shared a video clip of one of the conference presenters who was making the “business case” for diversity. One of my Facebook friends asked, “Why are we still making a business case […]

Interrupting gender bias: Fire away!

by Michael P. Maslanka I am honored to be a Bedford mentor at the University of North Texas School of Law in Dallas. Mentors divide into numerous small groups with students, and each group reads a different book on a matter of public interest. Our book is Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What […]