Last week, the Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals held that telling a supervisor to stop harassing you may
be enough to support a retaliation claim under Title VII. Three women had complained to their
supervisor about his offensive comments and conduct. A male they worked with also complained to
the supervisor, telling him “calm down on making them comments because I don’t
believe them women was liking that.” The women were fired after complaining. At
trial, the firings were found by a jury to have been retaliatory. The employer appealed, claiming that
complaining to the supervisor/harasser was not protected conduct.
In affirming the jury’s award of $1.5 million to the
employees, the Sixth Circuit pointed out that Title VII does not require
victims of harassment to complain to any particular level of management. It was sufficient that the employees
complained to their supervisor, even though he was the harasser.
Discrimination
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Kleiner Perkins made a motion for nearly $1 million in costs following Ellen Pao’s unsuccessful sex discrimination lawsuit.
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Dan Schwartz shared three lessons he learned after reading the Cosmopolitan guide to surviving sexual harassment at work.
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The EEOC secured a settlement of $14.5 million from a large oil drilling company based on national origin and race discrimination claims.
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With the spotlight on unconscious bias in the workplace, the Harvard Business Review pushed for executives to address the issue.
Technology
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A recent study found that 60% of employees believe technology is “inhibiting their ability to meet strategic goals.”
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Above the Law described how a Gawker intern lawsuit illustrates the clash of technology and law.
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The Harvard Business Review wrote about how managers could be replaced by software.
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Jason Buss demonstrated 10 ways your applicant tracking system is not keeping up to date.
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HR Examiner gave advice on what to do if your boss asks you to change your LinkedIn photo.
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After his termination from Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, Ethan Czahor developed an app that will help identify offensive social media posts so employees can delete them before employers see them.
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Recruiting Blogs made the case for recruiters to use HR tech.
