"This & That" Tuesday: Retaliation, Sexual Harassment

September 1, 2015

 

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

 

Announcements

Special Announcement: If you have Independent Contractors, you need to review the latest Department of Labor Guidelines. They can be found on my website under the Resoures page.  http://www.humanresources4u.com/resources

 

You can always check out my website for upcoming speaking engagements that are guaranteed to be of value to business owners or for a list of topics that I can speak on at Chambers, Clubs, Business Associations, etc. More details about the events, topics and Human Resources 4U, in general, can be found on my website.

 

Upcoming Events

September 15, 2015

Irwindale Chamber of Commerce

Hiring Talent for Consistent Performance

Information can be found on my website.

 

Turner Machine Company Settles Retaliation Lawsuit for $80,000

Turner Machine Company will pay $80,000 and furnish other significant equitable relief to resolve a lawsuit for retaliation filed by the EEOC.

 

According to the EEOC's suit, Ken Woodard was hired by Turner in June 2011, and he worked as a mechanical engineer at Turner Machine's Smyrna, Tenn., facility.  Problems began for Woodard when he voiced concerns about mandatory employee meetings called "huddles," which occurred every morning.  At the huddles, employees would discuss milestones occurring in their personal lives including their religious affiliations and church activities.  Woodard opposed this practice, and subsequently filed a discrimination charge.  The charge with the EEOC was resolved through an informal mediation process, but Turner Machine later retaliated against Woodard by firing him.

 

Besides the monetary relief, the four-year consent decree settling the suit requires that Turner Machine maintain a written policy prohibiting future discrimination in the workplace, including retaliation.  To further ensure the effective implementation of the anti-discrimination policy, Turner Machine will also conduct training on Title VII for its employees.  The decree also requires that Turner Machine post in its facility a notice containing the terms of this settlement. 

 

Woman Wins $60K Over ‘Badonkadonk’ Slap

Beatrice Lozada won a $60,000 sexual harassment claim against the Elmont Volunteer Fire Department. She said a male lieutenant repeatedly slapped her butt, which he called a "badonkadonk."

 

The state fined the Long Island fire department $25,000 and awarded a female fire-fighter $60,000 over the lieutenant’s exclamation of “badonkadonk” as he slapped the volunteer’s rear end.

 

Single mom Beatrice Lozada filed the Division of Human Rights complaint against Elmont’s Truck Company No. 1 in 2011, saying the lieutenant repeatedly made the crude remark — slang for a woman’s buttocks — around the firehouse when she worked there.

 

Other firefighters soon followed his lead. “They made a lot of comments about my body.” saying the taunting drove her to cover herself while on duty. “I had to dress like a boy, talk like a boy, because I wanted to be as unattractive as possible,” she said.

 

The Administrative Law Judge said the lieutenant slapped her posterior so often that she got to the point that she was afraid to walk in front of him adding that the Elmont firemen “acted more like members of a college fraternity rather than those sworn to protect the public against fire emergencies.”

   

Factoids

The ACA has expanded health coverage to 8 million people and another 22 million are expected to be covered by 2020.

   

401(k) Help:

• 75% want automatic enrollment upon hire
• 66% favor automatic increases
• 44% favor automatic annual rebalancing
• 41% favor automatic age-appropriate investment choices

 

Quote of the Blog

“A dream is a feeling that sticks and propels.”

~Jim Collins~