September 25, 2012

 

Here is the latest issue of “This & That” Tuesday. I hope you find it to be informative and useful.

 

Announcements

You can always check out my website for upcoming speaking engagements that are guaranteed to be of value to business owners. More details about the events and Human Resources 4U can be found on my website.

 

My next engagement is entitled "The Big 7 Employment Trouble Spots" It will be held on Wednesday, October 3 and is sponsored by the Rotary Club of West Covina. For more information please go to my website.

 

Labor Law Update 2013: If you are interested in having me give a “Labor Law Update for 2013” presentation to your organization early next year, please contact me so we can schedule the event.

 

Attention: Have you taken the HR4U mini-Human Resources audit, yet?

 

Warren Tricomi Pays $30,000 to Settle Pregnancy Discrimination Suit

Warren Tricomi, a New York-based hair salon with locations in the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan and in Greenwich, Conn., will pay $30,000 and provide a positive employee reference to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC. In its lawsuit, filed on Sept. 29, 2011, the EEOC charged that Warren Tricomi rescinded an employee’s promotion from assistant colorist to colorist and fired her soon after she informed the company that she was pregnant.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), which prohibits employers from subjecting employees to discrimination based on pregnancy. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

 

In addition to monetary relief, the consent decree settling the suit requires that Warren Tricomi issue a positive job reference to the fired employee and provide training on laws prohibiting employment discrimination. The company will also distribute and post an anti-discrimination policy and a notice about the lawsuit and settlement at its salon locations. Warren Tricomi must also make available to the EEOC all employee complaints of sex and/or pregnancy discrimination.

 

Employment decisions cannot be made on the basis of pregnancy and the EEOC will continue to bring cases like these to remind employers that doing so is a violation of the law. Awareness of the PDA is important for both employers and employees, especially in fields with a large percentage of young women who are balancing their careers with their desire to start a family.

 

Even Tall People Can Use An Extra Lift

Economists are convinced that height confers a natural advantage in the workplace, but some of the tallest New Yorkers still turn to each other to get a leg up in their careers.

 

Local talls, as they call themselves, use monthly meetings of the Tall Club of New York City as a networking venue. Members must meet minimum height requirements—5-foot-10 for women and 6-foot-2 for men, as measured without shoes—but otherwise they have little in common and hail from an array of industries.

 

The academic consensus offers a positive view. In a 2004 paper, three social scientists argued that the link between higher heights and higher wages can be traced to adolescence, leading to speculation that taller youngsters develop self-confidence they carry into their careers.

"It has been known for a while that taller people earn more. We are talking about roughly 3% higher wages per inch, on average," said Nicola Persico, one of the study's authors and a professor at Northwestern University.

 

The talk often circles around work-related topics. At a recent meeting, one tall woman revealed a tactic she had used: sitting during encounters with her shorter boss, to avoid creating a feeling of intimidation.

 

Annie Watt, a 5-foot-10 photographer and the Tall Club's founder, set out to create the group nearly two decades ago.  Ms. Watt, 59, used her own money to place an advertisement in New York magazine: "Hi, We're a Tall Club," it read. Fifteen people showed up at the first meeting, and twice that number at the second. The Tall Club now counts about 100 members.

 

Employer Settles EEOC Suit Alleging Sexual Harassment of Employees by Customer

Under a consent decree recently approved by a federal district court in Florida, owners of a restaurant will pay $200,000 to servers who allegedly were sexually harassed by a regular customer. According to the complaint filed by the EEOC, restaurant management knew that the male customer, a deputy sheriff who patronized the restaurant several times a week, harassed female servers, but failed to take any action to stop him. The customer’s harassment included making comments about the servers’ bodies, showing them pornographic images on his cell phone, propositioning them, and touching them inappropriately. Despite complaints, management allegedly failed to confront the customer about his behavior.

 

In addition to making monetary payments to the servers, the decree requires the restaurant to bar the customer from its premises and to seek a judicial “no trespass” order against him if he fails to cooperate. It also requires the restaurant to offer yearly anti-harassment training to all employees and to report any internal complaints of harassment to EEOC for a three-year period.

 

This settlement serves as an important reminder to employers that they must address harassment of their employees whatever its source: other employees, vendors, or customers, even if doing so could result in a loss of business and revenue.

 

Factoids

Retirement:

·         42% of employees say they are on track to a comfortable retirement

·         22% have no idea

·         73% say they will be working into their 70s.

So even though they might be comfortable upon retirement they might be too old to enjoy it!

 

Engagement:

·         60% of highly engaged employees will make a work improvement recommendation

·         But 70% of workers are either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” at work.

 

Orientation:

·         34% of companies surveyed said they do not conduct a formal, new hire orientation

 

Cost control:

·         A “dependent eligibility audit” typically will find between 6% and 16% of dependents are ineligible for the company health plan.

 

Quote

I have tried to know absolutely nothing about a great many things, and I have succeeded fairly well.
~ Robert Benchley ~