HRM textbook

CHAPTER 2 EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE LAW 51
under Title VII. Courts have also rejected arguments that prohibiting cornrow
hair styles infringed on black employees expression of cultural identification.
* Uniforms. When it comes to discriminatory uniforms and/or suggestive attire,
however, courts frequently side with employees. For example, requiring female
employees (such as waitresses) to wear sexually suggestive attire as a condition of
employment has been ruled as violating Title VII in many cases. 90
* Tattoos and body piercings. Tattoos and body piercings are an issue at work. For
example, about 38% of millennials in one survey had tattoos as compared with
15% of baby boomers. About 23% of millennials had body piercings as compared
with 1% of baby boomers. One case involved a waiter with religious tattoos on his
wrists at a Red Robin Gourmet Burgers store. The company insisted he cover his
tattoos at work; he refused. Red Robin subsequently settled a lawsuit after the
waiter claimed that covering the tattoos would be a sin based on his religion. 91
What the Supervisor Should Keep in Mind
The human resource manager plays a big role in helping the company avoid
practices like these, but at the end of the day, the first-line supervisor usually
triggers the problem. You make an ill-informed or foolish comment, and the
employee is quick to sue. Even something apparently nondiscriminatory like
telling a female candidate you d be concerned about her safety on the job after
dark might trigger a claim.
This is therefore a good point at which to emphasize three things. First, carefully
learning this chapter s contents is important. For example, understand the
questions you can and cannot ask when interviewing applicants, and know what
constitutes sexual harassment. There is no substitute for that knowledge. Good
intentions are no excuse.
Second, the courts may hold you (not just your employer) personally liable for
your injudicious actions. Management malpractice is aberrant conduct on the part
of the manager that has serious consequences for the employee s personal or physical
well-being, or which, as one court put it, exceeds all bounds usually tolerated by
society. 92 In one outrageous example, the employer demoted a manager to janitor
and took other steps to humiliate the person. The jury subsequently awarded the
former manager $3.4 million. Supervisors who commit management malpractice
may be personally liable for paying a portion of the judgment.
Third, know that retaliation is illegal under equal rights laws. To paraphrase the
EEOC, all of the laws we enforce make it illegal to fire, demote, harass, or otherwise
retaliate against people because they filed a charge, complained to their employer or
other covered entity about discrimination, or because they participated in a
discrimination investigation or lawsuit . 93 In one U.S. Supreme Court case, the
employee complained to a government agency that her employer paid her less than
male counterparts. Soon after the company heard about the complaint, it fired her
fiancé, who also worked for the firm. Finding for the employee, the U.S. Supreme
Court decision said, a reasonable worker might be dissuaded from engaging in
protected activity if she knew that her fiancé would be fired. 94
6 List the steps in the EEOC
enforcement process.
THE EEOC ENFORCEMENT PROCESS
Even prudent employers eventually face employment discrimination claims and have to
deal with EEOC officials. All managers (not just human resource managers) play roles
in this process. Figure 2-3 provides an overview of the process. 95
* File Charge. The process begins when someone files a claim with the EEOC.
Either the aggrieved person or a member of the EEOC who has reasonable cause
to believe that a violation occurred must file the claim in writing and under
oath. 96 Under CRA 1991, the discrimination claim must be filed within 300 days
(when there is a similar state law) or 180 days (where there is no similar state law)