One of the most powerful marketing features of sites like Facebook is the ability to target messages to specific groups. If you’re selling roofing and remodeling services in Silver Spring, Maryland, it makes sense to target your ads to homeowners…
Sexual Discrimination
In Sexual Harassment, the ‘Trauma Lives Past the Event’
One in three workers have experienced sexual harassment; 71% of them didn’t report it. Avery Francis is not part of that 71%. As too many of these stories go, this is where we would expect to hear how HR ignored…
A Look Ahead at the Legal and Market Forces Affecting Employment
Almost two years into the new presidential administration, and with highly consequential and hotly debated mid-term elections around the corner, Littler’s Workforce Policy Institute’s Labor Day Report examines the state of the American workforce. The WPI offers this report to…
Women Are Ready to Lead, So Put Them In
For the past few decades there’s been a lot of talk about how companies need to build a strong bench of female leaders to diversify C-suites and senior management roles. It would be counter to a significant body of research…
A Look at the #MeToo Movement’s Impact In the US, Brazil and the UK
Since the #MeToo movement began in October 2017, hardly a week goes by without the hashtag making headlines. From Miss America pageants to proposed legislation, the movement has given victims of sexual violence and harassment a new voice and has…
Appeals Court Says #MeToo Shows Employee Delay In Sex Harassment May Be Reasonable
In a July 3, 2018 opinion based in part on the revelations of the #MeToo era, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that an employee’s failure to report sexual harassment over a period of several years…
Reconvening Its Task Force and Filing 7 Suits, EEOC Signals Sex Harassment Still a Top Priority.
The EEOC sent a powerful signal last week that sexual harassment was still squarely on its radar filing 7 lawsuits against employers across the nation while reconvening its Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace. “As…
The Effects of Gender Disparity Ripple Through An Organization
Gender inequality takes many forms, the most obvious being the difference in earnings between men and women doing the same kind of work. Even where there is pay equity, subtler forms of inequality may be present from men getting the…
Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Baker In Wedding Cake Discrimination
The US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. However, the 7-2 decision sets no precedent, instead the majority said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed a…
Epic Shift: Court’s Class Action Decision Could Limit #MeToo Cases
The Supreme Court’s landmark decision yesterday on arbitration agreements has widespread implications for all employers. In Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, a 5-4 opinion written by Justice Gorsuch, the Supreme Court held that arbitration agreements and class/collective action waivers are…
If You’re Sued, Your Sexual Harassment Report Could Become Public
A female employee has just complained to HR that the CEO harassed her. This complaint is the third one against the same alleged harasser. So, you hire an outside attorney to conduct a full investigation, anticipating that there might be subsequent…
‘Ground-Breaking’ Ruling Says Transgender Discrimination Is Covered by Title VII
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently ruled, in what many have described as a ground-breaking decision, that discrimination based on an employee’s transgender status is discrimination based on “sex” in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights…
Shedding Light On Workplace Abuse
For decades, an executive at a movie production studio engaged in predatory behaviors against women who worked for and with him. When allegations came to light it was revealed that dozens of women were his victims. Worse, the organization he…
Can I Immediately Fire a VP Based on Sexual Harassment Allegations?
Dear Littler: I am a senior HR manager at a mid-sized company. One of our female team members just reported her manager, a vice president, for inappropriate conduct. She claims that what started out as mild flirtation on his part has…
We Get the Sex and Lies, But Why HR?
When I first started in HR, no one knew who we were. Heck, we weren’t even HR back then. In 2005, popular business magazine Fast Company brought HR into the spotlight, in a not-so-gracious way, with a cover story stating Why…
If You Call Him ‘Mr.’ Then Call Me ‘Ms.’
In the eighties, I worked on a project that required me to travel with a team to a site where we had to sign in and wear badges. We went there about once every month for over a year. It…
What You Need to Do to Prevent Sexual Harassment In the #MeToo Era
In December, TIME Magazine’s “Person of the Year” was “The Silence Breakers.” These were the “women (who) have had it with bosses and coworkers who not only cross boundaries but don’t even seem to know that boundaries exist … These…
Here’s How to Make 2018 the Year of HR
Human resource professionals had more than enough on their plates in 2017. Uber started off a year full of fails with the loss of over 400,000 customers after a massive price surge. The morale of the company sunk lower when…
Does Your Insurance Cover You Against Sexual Harassment Claims?
The last few months have brought seemingly unending news detailing allegations of sexual impropriety against politicians, celebrities, the news media, and other public figures. As a wave of victims march forward and social movements such as the #MeToo silence breakers grow, there…
Lawmakers Taking Aim At NDAs In Sexual Harassment Cases
In 2017, the #MeToo movement highlighted the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace, toppling prominent figures in numerous fields. Sexual harassment has been unlawful for decades, of course, yet this vexing problem remains. In the wake of #MeToo, federal…