Another form of unlawful harassment is conduct directed at someone based on a personal trait that is considered a Protected Classification under the law.
Protected Classifications include the following:
- Race
- Color
- Religion
- Sex (including: pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions)
- Sexual orientation and identity
- Marital status
- Age (40 and older)
- National origin or ancestry
- Disability: physical or Medical condition
- AIDS/HIV
- Genetic information
- Political activities or affiliations
- Military or veteran status
- Status as a victim of domestic violence, assault or stalking
- Opposition to unlawful harassment
- Association with, or perception that a person is of a protected classification
One of the situations that came up for me that was one of the hardest ones I had to deal with was a case of pregnancy discrimination. We had an employee at the company who had been with the company doing pretty good work for a couple of years.
New manager came on the group – he wanted to expand, get some of his friends in. She was about ready to go out on leave. It was month eight, she was about to take off for leave. And he came to me and said, You know, we’re going to fire this woman. And I said, well explain to me why we would fire this woman, she’s had really good performance assessments. Why would we go down this route? And he said, you know what? After a woman has a child, it just doesn’t work out any more, and they’re not going to be successful in the company, they don’t work as hard, they don’t put in the hours.
The woman went out on leave, she came back three months later, and right away he came forward and he said, “It’s her first month back, I documented all these things that have happened and she’s just not performing at the level of her peers at the same level.”
I said, “Fine, show me the evidence, show me what her peers are doing.” And there was no there … there. There was no merit to what he was saying. You know, she was starting to leave at five, because she had to pick up her child from day care, and he just couldn’t have it. He was convinced that this woman was not pulling her weight. And while I was out one day, he fired the woman.
He didn’t follow any process, any procedure. He simply fired this woman. And she called me that night. She got a hold of my number and she called me, she explained what happened. We ended up firing her manager who had fired her.
HFC (Harassment Free Culture) training is the best harassment training you can buy because it:
- Has engaging and relatable videos viewable anytime, anywhere; do some in the office, some in the airport or on the plane (LMS permitting);
- Exceeds legal requirements of all fifty US states; and,
- Is provided at a great price.
For more information, email Mike@Accelerate-LD.com.
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