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

 

Announcements

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 Hampton Inn Pays $85K to Settle Race and National Origin Claim

A Hampton Inn franchise in Craig, Colo., owned and operated by Century Shree Corporation, will pay $85,000 and furnish other relief to settle a race and national origin discrimination suit filed by the EEOC.  The EEOC charged that the company illegally terminated employees beginning in August 2009 because of their race, Caucasian, and national origin, non-Hispanic. 

 

According to the EEOC, a class of employees was discharged from the Craig Hampton Inn because management of the company subscribed to stereotypes that white or non-Hispanic workers were indolent.  

 

Employers are prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from discharging employees because of their race or national origin.  The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. 

 

Pursuant to the consent decree settling the suit, the company will pay $85,000 for back pay and compensatory damages to the discrimination victims.  The decree also includes a permanent injunction against the employer that prohibits it from discriminating in the future, and requiring the owners, managers, and supervisors of the company to undergo training on federal anti-discrimination laws.  The discrimination victims will also be offered reinstatement to their original job positions at the hotel. 

 

An employer cannot discharge or refuse to hire an individual based on derogatory stereotypical beliefs about that person's race or national origin. Employers cannot choose employees based on the color of their skin or their ancestry.  This form of blatant discrimination clearly violates federal law.  Non-economic relief, as well as monetary relief, is central to the EEOC’s mission. The EEOC always seeks to eradicate discrimination from the workplace so that individuals can find and maintain work based on their skills and performance and not on their race and national origin.  The consent decree in this case should ensure this at this franchise.

 

Age Discrimination in the Workplace

As the workforce continues to get older and older, age discrimination is getting more and more prevalent. Last year, more than 23,000 age claims were filed with the EEOC.

 

Here is an ADEA Fact Sheet

What employers are covered?

• All companies with 20 or more employees.

 

What employees are covered?

• All persons age 40 and older.

 

What’s prohibited?

• Age discrimination, unless based on a Bona Fide Job Qualification (BFJQ) 
• Hostile work environment based on age 
• Retaliation or harassment for exercising your ADEA rights 
• Retaliation or harassment against non-protected individuals for raising a complaint on behalf of protected individuals

 

What is a “BFJQ”?

• A BFJQ is a bona fide job qualification. In general, an employer can’t prove that age is a BFJQ unless it can establish that all or almost all members over the selected age can’t safely perform the essential functions of the job. A BFJQ is very difficult to prove unless the position at issue directly affects public safety.

 

How do you obtain a waiver of ADEA rights?

• Obtain a written release executed (signed) by the employee that specifically refers to the ADEA. 
• Provide 21 days for the employee to consider the waiver and advise the employee to consult an attorney. 
• Provide 7 days for employee to revoke the waiver after signing. Caution: do not pay any settlement amounts until these 7 days have passed. 
• In mass lay-offs, reduction-in-force (RIF) situations, provide 45 days (rather than 21 days) for the employee to consider the waiver and add an attachment to the waiver that contains the following: 
  • The selection criteria for the RIF and any applicable time limits and 
  • A list of job titles and ages of each person subject to the RIF and those employees who fall into the same organizational unit but were not subject to the RIF.

 

ADEA Tips

• Don’t ask for an applicant’s age at any point during the application process. 
• Train interviewers on how not to ask questions that could lead to a claim of age discrimination 
• Prohibit all age-related comments from the workplace pursuant to an effective anti-harassment policy. 
• Base any employment actions on factors other than age (or other protected characteristics). 
• Apply performance standards, policies and procedures, and access to benefits uniformly without regard to age. 
• Document poor performance and disciplinary measures taken against employees. 
• Document disciplinary measures taken against employees that make inappropriate, age-related remarks.

 

Factoids

• Average pay raise planned for 2013 is 3%
• For top performers its 4.4%
• Average promotion increase for 2012 was 8.7%
• Only 2% of employers plan to freeze salaries this year compared to 5% in 2012
• 15% of employees say they would trade part of their wages for more health benefits while only 9% of employees said they would surrender health benefits for higher wages.
• About 50% of CA employers with 3-9 employees provide health coverage while 74% of employers with 10-49 employees also offer health insurance

 

Premium sharing averages

• Single coverage: employees 21%, employers 79%
• Family coverage: employees 32% employers 68%