Blog Archives | Page 15 of 17

December 2, 2012

A Target employee traveled across the country earlier this month to deliver a petition to the company’s headquarters in Minneapolis. The petition requested that the store change its hours for Black Friday shopping, which have been creeping earlier and earlier each year, and the store now opens at 9 pm on Thanksgiving.

The woman wrote on her petition that among her three jobs, she wishes that she could have Thanksgiving off from all of them to enjoy the day with her family. She says that the company doesn’t allow vacation requests for several days each year, including Thanksgiving night and Black Friday.

October 31, 2012

It’s fairly common for coworkers to joke around in the office and give each other nicknames, and many Minnesota employees simply accept this as a fact of life. However, some nicknames can go too far and be hurtful or degrading, and it’s important to know that can be considered workplace harassment.

A recent case of a school district groundskeeper illustrates how some nicknames can cross the line. The groundskeeper had been working at the school for about ten years when he was suddenly fired after an on-the-job accident he was involved with while driving a truck. The man has a low IQ and describes himself as borderline mentally handicapped and testified in a court case later that the accident was related to his employer’s refusal to accommodate his disability.

October 23, 2012

Newly named Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer made waves when she revealed that she was pregnant shortly after her new job was announced. She said at the time that her new employer was not concerned about her pregnancy and that she planned to take a short maternity leave of only a few weeks and that she would likely work throughout it.

The news that one of the top women in Silicon Valley was pregnant and taking a new job was followed by praise for the progressive attitude at Yahoo! and questions about whether it represented another crack in the glass ceiling. Others were less enthusiastic, pointing out Mayer’s choice to take only a few weeks and work from home during that time. A writer at the Wall Street Journal even worried that her example would give new expectations to HR departments eager to get employees back from leave sooner.

October 3, 2012

Personality tests have grown in popularity in recent years as many more employer are looking to hire long-term workers who will fit well within the company hierarchy. The tests are designed to find a certain type of employee who will be well-suited to the job and are often a first step in the hiring process.

A recent industry poll revealed that about 18 percent of human resources professionals use personality tests as a part of the hiring or promotion process. The tests were most often used for mid-level managers, but also utilized heavily for entry-level jobs and executive positions. Human resources professionals like the tests because they can be fairly accurate predictors of how someone will actually behave at work.

September 26, 2012

Three women working as limousine drivers in Rochester, Minnesota, are pursuing a sex discrimination claim against their former employer and against Price Abdul-Rahman bin Adbul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia. The women say that they were hired as drivers for the Prince and his entourage when they were in Minnesota for medical treatment at the Mayo Clinic in 2010, but were let go on the second day of a month-long assignment because the Prince requested no female drivers.

The women said that when they arrived to work on the second day, a supervisor told them that his hands were tied and he had to fire them based on the Prince’s request.

September 9, 2012

Lund Boat Company (and its parent company, Brunswick Corporation) have agreed to pay nearly $300,000 to the federal government following a years-long investigation of hiring practices at a New York Mills, Minnesota, manufacturing facility.

The U.S. Department of Labor began investigating Lund’s manufacturing plant in rural Otter Tail County, Minnesota, back in 2007 following a series of complaints alleging that the company refused to hire qualified female workers at the facility. The USDOL investigation led to further inquiry by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and eventually resulted in the federal Office of Administrative Law Judges stepping in to address claims that Lund “systematically discriminated” against women seeking entry-level jobs at its factory.

September 6, 2012

A truck driver is suing his former employer, saying that DMS Express refused to allow him a reasonable accommodation so that he could treat his diabetes and anxiety properly, and that he was wrongfully terminated in retaliation for voicing his concerns.

The dispute arose when the driver asked his employer if he could take a short break and drive about four miles to a nearby pharmacy to fill a prescription before he started a long drive across several states. He says he made the request two days in advance and that it was denied by supervisors who insisted that he get on the road as quickly as possible. When the driver offered an alternative time that he might take a break to pick up medications he was denied again.

August 11, 2012

A female police officer recently filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after enduring about four years of sexual harassment from her boss in the internal affairs bureau.

The woman says that she was the victim of unwanted sexual advances, coercion, sexual harassment, and a range of other reprehensible conduct that would be objectionable even if it wasn’t happening in the workplace.

August 4, 2012

About 40 former employees of a local dessert company began a discrimination case this week, alleging that the new dress code violated their religious rights. The employees are all Somali women who dress in accordance with their Muslim beliefs. There is a dispute over whether the women were fired or whether they quit, since the discussion about the dress code was apparently presented as a choice to comply or leave.

“Actually, when they asked me to fire them I said, ‘No you need to make that decision regarding your job, it’s a personal choice,'” said the human resources manager at the company.

July 26, 2012

A former employee is suing the Minnesota state senate, the Secretary of State, and the state of Minnesota alleging that he was the victim of sex discrimination and wrongful termination. The former employee was terminated after it became clear that he had been having an affair with his boss. He says that female employees of the state who have been involved in similar relationships have not been terminated.

Members of the Minnesota senate have repeatedly asserted that they did not wrongfully terminate the man and that he was an at-will employee at the time that he was fired. At-will means that an employer does not need to provide a reason for termination. However, at-will employees are still protected from being fired for an illegal reason including those based on sex or race discrimination.