How to Protect Against Discrimination Lawsuits Video

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How to Protect Against Discrimination Lawsuits

How to Protect Against Discrimination Lawsuits Hi, I’m Cliff Ennico legal editor of sbtv.com and author of the best selling book Small Business Survival Guide. So you’re thinking about hiring someone for your small business. You interviewed 12-15 candidates, you narrowed it down three or four people who are all pretty good but there is one clear candidate who stands out head and shoulders above all the rest at least in your opinion. The only problem is that leading candidate is a white male and two of the other candidates that you’re thinking of passing over because you feel they’re less qualified for the position are minorities. How do you avoid being sued for employment discrimination in a situation like that? Well the short answer is you really can’t. Unfortunately, we live in a society in which anyone can sue anyone for anything. If one or both of those passed over candidates, feel they were passed over because of their race, their religion, their national origin, their sex or some other protected category; they maybe tempted to go running through an attorney and finding out if they have a case under the Federal State Employment Discrimination Laws. And if they happen to talk to an attorney who’s hungry and is willing to work on that contingency free basis which means that he doesn’t get paid unless the lawsuit is successful, you may find yourself with unemployment discrimination lawsuit on your hands. You cannot protect yourself a 100% of the time against these things but there are some things you can do to minimize and mange the risk of them happening. Number one document why you are making the decision, why are you picking the white male over the minority candidates. If its truly feels the white male is a better and closure fit for the position then minorities that’s okay but it’s important to document that and I would go to the extra step and explain to the minority candidates the basis on which the decision was made. I wouldn’t go into too much details but I would give them enough information that there are a reasonable person would conclude the decision was base on their the closeness of their fit for the position and not their race, their sex, or some of the protected category that you are prohibited by law from discriminating on the basis of. That’s a very important thing to do. Documented, explain to the minority candidates, treat them as human beings. Don’t just announce your decision then go on and sit down with some other people, trust them on the phone and just explain. This you know we thought that Joe was better fit to the position because of x, y and z and then finally as the last step invite them to apply for future positions that maybe coming up. We hired Joe for this position but, just so you know we do have a position coming up in about three months. For someone like Frankie, I think it would be a very good. I would encourage you to apply that time. Send me your email address and I’ll make sure you get a notice when we post our job advertisement that’s a good way of saying we welcome minorities. We do not discriminate against them. It was just this one case that we felt that the white male is better qualified. Last but not least make sure you take a good look at your work force before you hire Joe, the white male. You think superior candidate. If you’ve got 15 employees and all of them are white males, you don’t have a single minority, a single female, a single person with a different ethnic background. Maybe in this case it’s time to pass Joe over and hire one of the minorities. So that you avoid being perceived as being a hostile environment to minorities and other protected classes. There are times where the Federal discrimination laws require you to test over what you think is the best candidate in order to preserve or maintain diversity in your workplace. If you’ve got more than a handful of the employees say three or four you have to maintain diversity in your workplace. If you’ve got more than a handful of the employees say three or four you have to maintain diversity in the workplace and the sooner you hire that first minority the easier it will be the next time you go out to hire somebody who you think is better qualified and who is not a minority. I’m Cliff Ennico for sbtv.com

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How to Protect Against Discrimination Lawsuits

Hi, I’m Cliff Ennico legal editor of sbtv.com and author of the best selling book Small Business Survival Guide. So you’re thinking about hiring someone for your small business. You interviewed 12-15 candidates, you narrowed it down three or four people who are all pretty good but there is one clear candidate who stands out head and shoulders above all the rest at least in your opinion.

The only problem is that leading candidate is a white male and two of the other candidates that you’re thinking of passing over because you feel they’re less qualified for the position are minorities. How do you avoid being sued for employment discrimination in a situation like that?

Well the short answer is you really can’t. Unfortunately, we live in a society in which anyone can sue anyone for anything. If one or both of those passed over candidates, feel they were passed over because of their race, their religion, their national origin, their sex or some other protected category; they maybe tempted to go running through an attorney and finding out if they have a case under the Federal State Employment Discrimination Laws. And if they happen to talk to an attorney who’s hungry and is willing to work on that contingency free basis which means that he doesn’t get paid unless the lawsuit is successful, you may find yourself with unemployment discrimination lawsuit on your hands.

You cannot protect yourself a 100% of the time against these things but there are some things you can do to minimize and mange the risk of them happening. Number one document why you are making the decision, why are you picking the white male over the minority candidates. If its truly feels the white male is a better and closure fit for the position then minorities that’s okay but it’s important to document that and I would go to the extra step and explain to the minority candidates the basis on which the decision was made. I wouldn’t go into too much details but I would give them enough information that there are a reasonable person would conclude the decision was base on their the closeness of their fit for the position and not their race, their sex, or some of the protected category that you are prohibited by law from discriminating on the basis of. That’s a very important thing to do. Documented, explain to the minority candidates, treat them as human beings. Don’t just announce your decision then go on and sit down with some other people, trust them on the phone and just explain. This you know we thought that Joe was better fit to the position because of x, y and z and then finally as the last step invite them to apply for future positions that maybe coming up.

We hired Joe for this position but, just so you know we do have a position coming up in about three months. For someone like Frankie, I think it would be a very good. I would encourage you to apply that time. Send me your email address and I’ll make sure you get a notice when we post our job advertisement that’s a good way of saying we welcome minorities. We do not discriminate against them. It was just this one case that we felt that the white male is better qualified.

Last but not least make sure you take a good look at your work force before you hire Joe, the white male. You think superior candidate. If you’ve got 15 employees and all of them are white males, you don’t have a single minority, a single female, a single person with a different ethnic background. Maybe in this case it’s time to pass Joe over and hire one of the minorities. So that you avoid being perceived as being a hostile environment to minorities and other protected classes. There are times where the Federal discrimination laws require you to test over what you think is the best candidate in order to preserve or maintain diversity in your workplace.

If you’ve got more than a handful of the employees say three or four you have to maintain diversity in your workplace. If you’ve got more than a handful of the employees say three or four you have to maintain diversity in the workplace and the sooner you hire that first minority the easier it will be the next time you go out to hire somebody who you think is better qualified and who is not a minority.

I’m Cliff Ennico for sbtv.com

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