News

 

Investigations and Litigation items

  • $240 Million EEOC Verdict Will Likely Be Reduced to $1.6 Million

    Date:
    15 May 2013

    A federal jury in Iowa recently awarded a verdict totaling $240 million to 32 farm workers who were subject to a hostile work environment harassment and severe abuse at the hands of their employer and supervisors. Despite the fact that this was the largest judgment ever obtained by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency told the Des Moines Register that the award must be lowered because federal law limits the compensatory and punitive damages each plaintiff can receive to $50,000.

  • Colorado Small Business Owners Are Now Exposed to Increased Damages

    Date:
    15 May 2013

    Colorado has passed a new law that expands the types of discrimination lawsuit damages that employees of small business employers - those with 14 or fewer employees - may be entitled to. These damages include compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney fees.

  • NLRB Eases Restrictions on Workplace Investigations

    Date:
    30 April 2013

    The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently provided additional guidance on the legality of restricting employee discussion of ongoing internal investigations. In a recent Advice Memorandum, the NLRB clarified how employers can lawfully restrict employee discussion of ongoing investigations and provided sample language for employers to include in their workplace investigation policies.

  • Courts Hold Employers in Contempt for Violating EEOC Settlement Agreements

    Date:
    22 April 2013

    Employers that ignore consent decrees (court-approved settlement agreements) may be held in contempt of court and subject to additional fines, sometimes totaling $1,000 for each day of noncompliance. Recent contempt orders by federal courts in cases filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) serve as a warning to employers that fail to comply with their obligations under consent decrees.

  • Employers Sanctioned by Federal Courts for Destroying Records

    Date:
    01 April 2013

    Employers in two EEOC cases were sanctioned by federal courts for destroying evidence. These cases illustrate the need for employers to implement document retention programs to preserve their company information and avoid litigation sanctions.

  • Mixed Motive Case Provides Mixed Results for California Employers

    Date:
    13 February 2013

    In Harris v. City of Santa Monica, the California Supreme Court considered a mixed motive discrimination case in which an employer had both lawful and unlawful reasons for terminating an employee. The court ruled that the employer may be held liable if the employee can show that discrimination was a substantial factor motivating an adverse employment action; however, damages may be limited if the employer demonstrates that it would have made the same decision absent the discrimination.

  • Rising Retaliation Claims Reveal Need for Improved Employer Termination Procedures

    Date:
    12 February 2013

    Given the consistent increase in the number of retaliation claims brought by employees, employers may be left wondering what they can do to reduce or prevent retaliation claims. There are many tools at the employer's disposal to properly handle complaints of unethical, wasteful or illegal practices in the workplace and many steps employers can take to identify problematic employees before they proceed with retaliation claims.

  • EEOC Statistics Show Retaliation Still Top Workplace Concern

    Date:
    29 January 2013

    On January 28, 2013, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released fiscal year 2012 statistics on employment discrimination charges filed with the agency. Retaliation (37,836) was the most frequently filed claim, followed by race discrimination (33,512) and sex discrimination (30,356), which includes sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. Retaliation charges remain a top concern for employers and have since 2010, accounting for 38.1% of all charges in 2012.

  • New California Laws Affecting Private Employers in 2013

    Date:
    25 January 2013

    In 2012, California Governor Jerry Brown signed 876 bills into law - several of which directly impact employers and HR professionals in the Golden State. To help understand California's most significant new employment laws and what HR must do to comply, XpertHR is sponsoring a free webcast on January 31, 2013 by XpertHR contributors Chris Cobey and Matt Ruggles of Littler Mendelson, PC, the largest labor and employment law firm in the world that exclusively represents management.

  • NLRB Now Permits Disclosure of Witness Statements to Unions

    Date:
    16 January 2013

    In yet another reversal of longstanding precedent, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) held in American Baptist Homes of the West d/b/a Piedmont Gardens, 2012 NLRB LEXIS 846; 359 NLRB No. 46 (December 15, 2012) that employers can no longer simply assert that a witness statement taken in the course of an internal investigation is confidential and refuse to provide the statement to the union. Rather, an employer must apply a balancing test to establish a real confidentiality interest.

About this category

News: HR guidance on the importance of conducting thorough and objective investigations as a tool to guard against and/or defeat litigation.

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