Do you know what constitutes a supervisor? According to the 2nd, 4th and 9th U.S. circuit courts of appeal, a “supervisor” is someone whom the employer vests the authority to direct and oversee their employees' daily work.
So why would it matter what is legally considered a supervisor?
In the cases of Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, and Burlington Industries Inc. v. Ellerth, the Supreme Court held that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, an employer is liable for severe or pervasive workplace harassment by a supervisor of the victim. If the harasser was the victim’s co-employee, however, the employer is not liable absent proof of negligence.
Unfortunately, not all circuit courts think the same way. According to the 7th Circuit, just because a person is deemed a “supervisor” by their employer does not mean they are considered a supervisor under Title VII if they do not have the power to take formal employment actions against employees.
So if a few different courts are saying different things, which is correct? That is what the U.S. Supreme Court is trying to figure out. The case that is being discussed is Vance v. Ball State University. A black catering assistant was racially harassed by white co-workers and supervisors. The 7th Circuit affirmed summary judgment to Ball State University, saying that Vance failed to establish a basis for employer liability based on purported harassment by either a co-worker or a supervisor.
However, Vance is saying that one of the harassers was a supervisor, stating that the alleged supervisor did direct her work and did not clock in like other hourly employees. So according to the EEOC, is the person a supervisor or not? We will have to wait for the Supreme Court to see.
In the meantime, make sure your managers and supervisors all receive training and guidance with your company's anti-discrimination policy, and make sure that they pass their training on to employees. Remember, knowledge is power!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
IRS Raises 401(k) and Pension Plan Limits!
- Maximum elective deferral by employee raises from $17,000 to $17,500
- Catch up contribution (ages 50 and older for 2012) stays at $5,500
- Defined contribution maximum deferral for the combined amount of employee and employer raises from $50,000 to $51,000
- Employee annual compensation limit for calculating contributions raises from $250,000 to $255,000
- Annual compensation of key employees in a top-heavy plan stays at $165,000
- Annual compensation of highly compensated employee in a top-heavy plan stays at $115,000
EMT's headquarters gets new paint!
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Knowing When To Outsource Your HR
If you have employees, you have HR issues. If you are unsure of how to go about dealing with these HR issues, you are not alone. If you are like most business owners, you would rather spend your precious and limited time on generating profits than focusing on HR activities, such as benefits and compensation.
For many businesses, this problem can be solved through HR outsourcing. As we have pointed out in previous posts, the HR problem and solution is not indigenous to US business. According to The Guardian in the UK, “Generally speaking, the top three reasons cited for outsourcing HR are access to skills and knowledge, gaining better quality support than the business is able to be offer in-house and the costs saved. This saving comes from the company either not requiring an HR person in-house, or enabling the person who had taken on the HR function to focus on revenue generating work. I've found the most commonly outsourced HR activities are legal services, payroll and pensions.”
Check out more of this article about when to outsource your HR here: Knowing When To Outsource Your Small Business’s HR
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
