Earlier this year, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) does not prohibit discrimination against older job seekers -- only existing employees. Although the Seventh Circuit only covers Wisconsin, Illinois and...
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Workplace Discrimination
Ex-Employees File Suit Against IBM Over Age Discrimination
Ever since the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica did an exposé last year, former IBM employees have wondered whether the company's recent global restructuring and layoffs were motivated in part by age discrimination. Now, a group of ex-workers has filed a federal lawsuit...
Is ‘Culture Fit’ A Legitimate Factor In Hiring Decisions?
When your organization is interviewing candidates for a position, does it consider whether the candidate will fit into your company culture? If so, have you created clear standards on what constitutes your culture and how a candidate can demonstrate the ability to...
Analysis: 56 Percent Of Workers Over 50 Are Laid Off, Pushed Out
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) was passed in 1967. A Labor Department report leading to its passage noted that, at the time, half of all job ads in the private sector explicitly barred applications from people 55 or over. A quarter excluded anyone...
EEOC Accuses Walmart Of Failing To Accommodate Pregnant Workers
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is a federal law that prohibits employment discrimination "because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions." In 2015, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., that...
Lawsuits To Test Whether Age-Based Recruitment Violates The ADEA
Can employers legally limit the ages of job prospects by recruiting only on college campuses? Can they cap the years of experience applicants are allowed to have? Can they set up social media recruitment campaigns that exclude older people? Or would taking active...
What Does Age Discrimination Look Like? ProPublica Examines IBM
Recently, the independent, nonprofit investigative journalism newsroom ProPublica released a detailed analysis of massive personnel changes at IBM that it believes indicate age discrimination. Over the past five years, IBM has cut over 20,000 U.S. employees aged 40...
Is Workplace Discrimination Based On Sexual Orientation Illegal?
If you think federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation, you would be wrong. In fact, while federal law - specifically Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - does outlaw workplace discrimination based...
SERVICE ANIMALS AND THE ADA
"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." - (Quote often attributed to Harry Truman) The ADA defines a service dog as "any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical,...
DOJ Says Federal Law Does Not Ban Sexual Orientation Discrimination
On July 26, 2017, the Department of Justice filed an Amicus Brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit taking the position that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. The...