Are You Violating Your Employees' Civil Rights?

There have been many civil court cases over the last twenty years that have dealt with employees' civil rights - particularly those that employers have violated during the course of regular business. Unfortunately, many employers are ignorant of the laws concerning workplace discrimination, and may violate employees' civil rights without even realizing it. To ensure that you are staying within the scope of the law, consider the following points.

Have you forced an older employee to retire?

One way in which you might be violating your employees' civil rights is by forcing retirement. The Age Discrimination Act of 1967 protects employees from discrimination based on their age, which is true for both younger and older employees. This statute prohibits forced retirement in most industries, except where incompetence is suspected, so don't attempt to force your employees into early retirement.

Are all of your employees one race or ethnicity?

It isn't a crime for employers to hire a majority of workers in the same race or ethnicity, but it can send off red flags to employees about their civil rights and cause an uproar. If you have 200 employees and they are all white males, for example, you could be opening yourself to a lawsuit. Diversity is the number one rule of thumb for modern American businesses, so make sure you are giving everyone who applies an equal opportunity for hiring.

Do you refuse to hire liberals?

Or conservatives? Or libertarians? The law protects employees' civil rights with regard to political, religious and social affiliations as well as race, sex, age and ethnicity. What might seem to you like a simple personality quirk could actually be the basis for a multi-million dollar lawsuit. To be safe, don't ask applicants about their affiliations before you hire them, and don't bring up political or religious persuasions at all. It just isn't a good idea.

Are your employees compensated differently?