Record Number of Discrimination Charges

Legal Alert: EEOC Reports 

Record Number of Discrimination Charges

1/26/2012

Executive Summary: According to information released by the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in 2011 the agency received

a record number of discrimination charges and obtained a record amount of

relief for discrimination claimants.

In a press release issued January 25, 2012, the agency stated that it

received 99,947 discrimination charges against private sector employers in

FY 2011 (which ended September 30, 2011). This is up slightly from the

99,922 it received in 2010. Charges alleging retaliation under all of the

statutes the EEOC enforces accounted for the highest overall percentage of

private sector complaints received (37.4%), followed closely by race

discrimination complaints (35.4%). Claims of religious discrimination, while

not as numerous as retaliation and race discrimination claims, increased by

a little over 9%, which was the highest percentage of increase of any of the

charge categories.

In addition to the record number of charges received, the agency also

reported that it obtained a record $455.6 million in relief for private sector,

state, and local employees and applicants, a more than $51 million increase

from the past fiscal year. ADA charges produced the highest amount of

monetary relief among all of the statutes. According to the EEOC, the

administrative relief obtained for disability discrimination charges increased

by almost 35.9% to $103.4 million compared to $76.1 million in the previous

fiscal year.

 Employers' Bottom Line:

The increase in discrimination charges may reflect the public's increased

awareness of discrimination laws as well as increasingly aggressive

enforcement efforts by the EEOC. Additionally, the weak economy may

have contributed to this increase. The EEOC's draft Strategic Plan for

2012-2016 notes that during difficult economic times, the agency may see

an increase in overall charges as more people are laid off. With fewer jobs

available, these people may be more likely to file discrimination claims

instead of moving on to another job, as they might be able to do in a

stronger economy.

Accordingly, it is more important than ever for employers to be aware of their

obligations under employment discrimination laws, especially reasonable

accommodation obligations under the ADA. It is also essential to ensure

that any adverse employment actions are based on legitimate business

reasons and that these reasons can be verified through proper

documentation.

If you have any questions regarding this Alert or other labor or employment

related issues, please contact the Ford & Harrison attorney with whom you

usually work.




PRESENTED BY: Executive Leadership, LLC SPECIALIZING IN: Human Capital Transition and Executive Coaching - (908) 822-9655 WEBSITE: http://www.exec-leadershipLLC.com
If you are seeking an Executive or Career Coach for yourself or your organization, consider contacting CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.
CB Bowman, ia a Certified Master Coach and president, CEO of Executive Leadership, LLC. She is also the Executive Director for the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (http://www.acec-website.org).

Six Marketing Fundamentals to Help Advance Your Career

Six Marketing Fundamentals to Help Advance Your Career

By Josh Braaten

Could your lack of knowledge of marketing fundamentals be holding you back in your career? Landing that dream job and even getting a raise or promotion is often as much about marketing yourself as it is having the right knowledge or experience.

At its core, great marketing conveys value of a product or service to its potential consumers. In the context of your professional life, you are the product and service, and your current and potential bosses are the consumers. Here are a six marketing fundamentals and how to apply them to your career:

1. Develop a Unique Value Proposition - A unique value proposition (UVP) is a clear picture of what you deliver to those around you and how it helps them. For example, there are scores of Internet marketers out there, but how often do you hear of an organic content specialist with a focus on SEO, web analytics, and conversion rate optimization? Be specific about your talents throughout your resume and online profiles if you want to stand out to those looking for your passion and strengths.


2. Have a Strong Brand Promise - A brand promise is an expression of how a brand is different within a market. For example, FedEx's brand promise is reliable shipping. Avis's brand promise is that they try harder than their competitors. Make sure the aspects of your personality that set you a part are layered throughout your online presence.


3. Know the Persona - When preparing for interviews or performance reviews, get to know the culture of organizations by what they say about themselves on social media and their website. Align your UVP with the interests of a company to demonstrate how well you fit with the culture. It doesn't take a degree in organizational leadership to realize that you'll get more success if you speak the same language as your current or potential bosses.


4. Perform Competitive Research - Research LinkedIn to find others in your area with similar interests and skills. Doing this helps you stand out even further because you'll know what unique blend of skills and experience you bring to the table. Tip: work the name of the job title you want into your LinkedIn profile to appear above your industry colleagues in the search results of HR recruiters and industry head hunters.


5. Demonstrate Social Proof - Social proof is demonstrating the value of your product or service by letting others do the talking for you. Recommendations on LinkedIn, the number of friends and followers you have on social networks, and how often they engage with or share your content are all ways to let the words of others speak more about you than you could ever do for yourself. Tip: The best way to get a recommendation is to recommend someone else. Leave sincere and genuine recommendations and your colleagues will be sure to reciprocate.


6. Personalize to Build Relationships - Use social media to get to know your boss or your potential employer. Spend some time on their profiles to get a feel for their experience, their former employers and sometimes even their favorite books. Bringing these things up in an interview setting show that you’re interested in not only getting a job, but in the person you’re talking to as well.

Many marketing degree programs today teach these important principles. Apply them to your professional life to increase your odds of landing a job or earning that raise or promotion to advance your career:

What ways have you used marketing to advance your career? Do you have any examples that support the list here?

Read more on the Simply Hired Blog: http://blog.simplyhired.com/2011/12/six-marketing-fundamentals-to-help-advance-your-career.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jan10#ixzz1j7dJMpAi






PRESENTED BY: Executive Leadership, LLC SPECIALIZING IN: Human Capital Transition and Executive Coaching - (908) 822-9655 WEBSITE: http://www.exec-leadershipLLC.com
If you are seeking an Executive or Career Coach for yourself or your organization, consider contacting CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.
CB Bowman, ia a Certified Master Coach and president, CEO of Executive Leadership, LLC. She is also the Executive Director for the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (http://www.acec-website.org).

eBossWatch Launches National Sexual Harassment Registry

eBossWatch Launches National Sexual Harassment Registry

Workplace initiative modeled after FBI's National Sex Offender Registry

LAS VEGAS, July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- eBossWatch, the leading career resource that enables people to anonymously rate their current or former bosses, today announced the launch of the first ever National Sexual Harassment Registry.

The National Sexual Harassment Registry is a searchable database of people who have been formally and publicly accused of sexual harassment by their subordinates or coworkers.  The Registry is designed to be a resource to help job seekers better evaluate potential employers and to help organizations better evaluate job candidates.

"The eBossWatch National Sexual Harassment Registry sends a strong message to those intending to sexually harass their employees or coworkers that they will be publicly held accountable and will suffer serious consequences for their abusive actions," said Asher Adelman, founder of eBossWatch.  "Now anyone will be able to search our national database and will instantly know if their potential boss or job candidate has been the subject of a sexual harassment complaint."

Inspired by the FBI's National Sex Offender Registry, which tracks and provides information about registered sex offenders, the eBossWatch National Sexual Harassment Registry will enable people to conduct searches free of charge to obtain information about people who have been accused of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Caren Goldberg, Ph.D., a management professor at American University whose primary research interests are in sexual harassment, said, "If used judiciously, the Registry has the potential to help organizations minimize the likelihood of hiring a known harasser and to help applicants minimize the likelihood of taking a job at an organization where they wouldn't fit."

The National Sexual Harassment Registry is located at www.ebosswatch.com

About eBossWatch

Founded in 2007, eBossWatch is a popular career resource that helps people evaluate potential employers and avoid toxic workplaces.  eBossWatch enables people to anonymously rate their bosses in a professional and non-libelous manner.  eBossWatch is also the publisher of the America's Worst Bosses list and a news site that highlights and exposes bad bosses.

eBossWatch has been featured or mentioned extensively in the media, including on ABCNews.com, Fox News, Forbes.com, BusinessWeek.com, AOL, Monster.com, New York Post, TheStreet.com, Chicago Tribune, Orange County Register, Houston Chronicle, Seattle Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Toronto Globe & Mail.

For more information, go to www.ebosswatch.com or email us at contact@ebosswatch.com

SOURCE eBossWatch

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RELATED LINKS
http://www.ebosswatch.com

PRESENTED BY: Executive Leadership, LLC SPECIALIZING IN: Human Capital Transition and Executive Coaching

If you are seeking an Executive or Career Coach for yourself or your organization, consider contacting CB Bowman, MBA, CMC, MCEC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.

CB Bowman, ia a Certified Master Coach and president, CEO of Executive Leadership, LLC. She is also the Executive Director for the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (http://www.acec-website.org).

Talent Edge 2020

Blueprints for the new normal

http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Services/additional-services/talent-human-capital-hr/Talent-Library/talent-edge-2020/index.htm

The first report of Deloitte’s new survey series Talent edge 2020 features results from a survey that polled more than 300 global business executives across industries. The report highlights that as companies worldwide struggle to move beyond the great recession, many executives recognize the need to develop talent strategies to meet the demands of the ‘new normal’. With trends such as globalization and the aging workforce gaining traction during recession, global talent leaders are now focused on finding the right balance between economic realities and investment requirements as they position their companies for success in the next decade.

Key findings include:

• The talent paradox is already creating key shortages: High unemployment rates have not created the talent surplus as predicted. On the contrary, many executives predict talent shortages across key business units.
• 

  What are your organization's most pressing talent con

  Click graph to enlarge
• Companies are increasingly challenged to develop the next generation of leaders: With the retirement of Baby Boomers, many executives are concerned over their companies’ leadership development programs and pipelines.
• 
  
• The race for talent is global: Once-emerging markets of the pre-recession days have become the catalyst for future growth, placing tremendous demands on talent managers to get the new people in new jobs at new locations.
• 
  
• “World Class” talent leaders are pursuing a different agenda: Executives who describe their company’s talent programs as “world class” appear to have a different set of priorities and a stronger focus on long-term talent investments.
• 
  
• Companies with retention plans in place are moving beyond anxiety and taking action: Even though most executives are concerned about retention, only those companies with an existing retention plan are moving beyond anxiety and focusing on initiatives.

Deloitte’s Talent Edge 2020 longitudinal survey series will continue to track the shifts in talent strategies, trends and priorities in the months ahead. The next edition of the study will focus on exploring talent strategies, trends, and concerns from the employee perspective and will be published this coming Spring.

PRESENTED BY: Executive Leadership, LLC SPECIALIZING IN: Human Capital Transition and Executive Coaching - (908) 822-9655 WEBSITE: http://www.exec-leadershipLLC.com
If you are seeking an Executive Coach for yourself or your organization, consider contacting CB Bowman, MBA, CMC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.
CB Bowman, ia a Certified Master Coach and president, CEO of Executive Leadership, LLC. She is also the Chairperson and Founder for the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (http://www.acec-website.org).
Among mid to senior level professionals Executive leadership LLC is the go to company for individuals and companies seeking human capital repositioning, development and/or growth through coaching, counseling, and strategic advice.
With her Fortune 500 business background, laser like precision, and a take no prisoners approach she swiftly narrows in on the issue, and unlike others, she presents financially sound, creative and action oriented solutions with infinite possibilities

Cross-Cultural Leadership: How Misinterpretations of Dishonesty Can Destroy Team Alignment

By: Aad Boot; LeadershipWatch

When leading change, for instance in post merger integrations, leadership teams are very often confronted with cross-cultural differences. These can be corporate or national culture differences. Not dealing with these cultural differences effectively can have a serious impact on leadership teams. As executive and leadership team consultant and facilitator I have seen many situations over the years where mutual distrust seriously hindered a team’s alignment and performance. And almost every time this lack of trust was related to perceptions of dishonest behavior of fellow team members.

Honesty and dishonesty are clearly very important to us. The feeling of being confronted with dishonesty blocks our openness and decreases our level of trust. But what if our perception of another person’s dishonesty is based on misinterpretation? What if the other person is not trying to harm us at all, but simply has a different perspective on the situation? Unfortunately misinterpretations occur rather often! They can hamper leadership teams in such a way that the negative effects spread out over the whole organization.

How to avoid these false interpretations? How do they start and how can you stop them in time? Apparently they grow in a subtle way, sometimes unconsciousness. Two real life examples I witnessed:

A leadership team launched a number of transformation initiatives to improve the cross-regional collaboration between Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Each member of the team was responsible to sponsor and steer one of the task forces and to present progress and results in the monthly leadership team meeting. After three months an open clash took place in the meeting. European executives accused their South American colleague of not sharing the real facts with them. They received inside information from his task force members, information that was not in line with what he presented in the meeting. They felt he was not honest and tried to cover up facts so he could push through his plan for a new design process that he knew would not completely fit the European needs. There was a lot of emotion in the room and the atmosphere was deteriorating rapidly. Finally and luckily one of the people around the table raised a question: “Please explain ones more to us why you are not sharing all the information here, why do you keep it to yourself?” After some hesitation the reply came: “I don’t want to feed information to you of which I am not sure it will stay valid. I still remember last year when I showed my reorganization plans for the plant in Argentina and you blocked it because you believed my work was not thorough enough. I for sure will prevent that from happening again. I will tell you my plans when the task force has all details figured out. Not before.” This confession turned the meeting around. Instead of distrusting each other, the team should maybe focus more on exchanging expectations and maybe support their colleague a bit more.

Another example: an executive team that was newly formed after an acquisition (Japanese acquirer taking over a European/American company). After a few weeks the first signs of tension and distrust were showing. Western team members clinging together and forming a block against the Japanese invaders who didn’t share any of their plans and only attended meetings to be nice and friendly, but did not explain anything of the changes they wanted to roll out. When I had meetings with each team member to figure out what was going on I found out that cultural differences in how to establish relationship and openness were hindering the team. Clearly the Japanese culture was much more following the path of ‘establishing relationship first and then gradually show more openness and sharing’, where the more Anglo-Saxon oriented culture of the Western leaders was more following the path of ‘openness and sharing as prerequisite for creating a trust based relationship’ (read my earlier post on how relationships and openness can be experienced differently from culture to culture). Discussing this with the team did of course not solve the problem at once, but created a better understanding of the cultural difference and allowed the team to let go of a big part of the negative energy. They realized the situation was not caused by bad intentions, and that allowed them to discuss the way forward as a team.

These are just two examples of how easily wrong perceptions of dishonesty can lead to team conflict that will hinder the leadership team’s performance with all its negative impact on the organization. How to avoid this from happening? First of all by creating a stronger individual and team awareness for these potential misinterpretations. By developing as a leader specific cross-cultural antennas that help you to detect situations where miscommunication, misinterpretation, misunderstanding, derailment of the team, is taking place. To be able to spot these moments early enough. The following questions can maybe help as a kind of checklist for you and your team.

When dealing with perceived dishonesty and distrust, how is our team reacting?:

• Do we by default want to believe the following two principles (until proven wrong based on hard facts)?: I believe that nobody in this team is deliberately trying to harm the others. I believe that this team consists of reasonable and intelligent people. Or do we unconsciously believe the opposite? How is this affecting our contribution to the team?
• Do we raise open questions to better understand why and what others are saying or doing? Or do we make statements and use leading questions trying to prove our point?
• Do we try to learn from other’s interpretation of honesty or dishonesty? Or do we believe that our perspective is the only right one?
• Do we base our judgments on real facts? Or do we judge dishonesty mostly based on feelings and interpretations?
• Do we believe we can be wrong in our judgment, that we missed something and misunderstood the situation? Or do we blindly trust our own judgment regardless the consequences?
• Do we focus on the impact it has on us as leadership team and how it affects the organization? Or do we tend to focus on our personal feelings and interest?

PRESENTED BY: Executive Leadership, LLC SPECIALIZING IN: Human Capital Transition and Executive Coaching - (908) 822-9655 WEBSITE: http://www.exec-leadershipLLC.com
If you are seeking an Executive Coach for yourself or your organization, consider contacting CB Bowman, MBA, CMC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.
CB Bowman, ia a Certified Master Coach and president, CEO of Executive Leadership, LLC. She is also the Chairperson and Founder for the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (http://www.acec-website.org).
Among mid to senior level professionals Executive leadership LLC is the go to company for individuals and companies seeking human capital repositioning, development and/or growth through coaching, counseling, and strategic advice.
With her Fortune 500 business background, laser like precision, and a take no prisoners approach she swiftly narrows in on the issue, and unlike others, she presents financially sound, creative and action oriented solutions with infinite possibilities

Teacher Can’t Sue Church School for FEHA Violations

 A S A P ^® 

A Timely Analysis of Legal Developments 

Littler Mendelson, P.C. • www.littler.com • 1.888.littler • info@littler.com 

©2011 Littler Mendelson, P.C. All rights reserved. 

December 2011 

Teacher Can’t Sue Church School for FEHA Violations 

By Helene Wasserman

A California Court of Appeal has ruled that a religious school teacher who was living “out of wedlock” with her boyfriend as they raised their child cannot state a claim against the church for wrongful termination based upon marital status discrimination. Henry v. Red Hill Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tustin, No. G044556 (Fourth Dist., Div. Three Dec. 9, 2011). 

The plaintiff taught preschool at the church school from August 2002 until her termination in May 2009. During that time, in addition to teaching preschool, she also became the Director of the preschool. Each year, she signed a document setting forth the professional expectations for teachers, which included the expectation to serve as “a Christian role model” for the students and their parents, “both in and out of school.” Indeed, when giving her weekly tour of the preschool to prospective parents, she emphasized the “Christian-based, Bible-based values of the school.” As part of the curriculum, plaintiff taught religion to the preschoolers and, once a week, attended chapel with her class. 

When the plaintiff applied for the position, she was married. She subsequently divorced. Later during her employment, she gave birth to a child fathered by her boyfriend. Prior to giving birth, the plaintiff and her boyfriend were living together, but she did not know whether the principal of the school was aware of that fact. After parents learned of and expressed disapproval over the plaintiff’s “living situation,” the school principal met with the plaintiff and asked whether she intended to marry her boyfriend. She indicated that she did, but was not sure when. Ultimately, the school terminated the plaintiff’s employment “for living with her boyfriend and raising their son together without being married.” 

The focus was the living arrangement. The plaintiff sued the church alleging that her termination was wrongfully based on her marital status, in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Title VII, and the California Constitution. The trial court ordered the trial bifurcated so that the church presented its defenses first. After trial, the court ruled in favor of the church, finding that the church is a religious institution and that the plaintiff’s employment was terminated because she violated a church precept. 

The appellate court affirmed. Preliminarily, the court addressed whether the church is an employer under the FEHA. The FEHA expressly excludes nonprofit religious associations from the definition 

PRESENTED BY: Executive Leadership, LLC SPECIALIZING IN: Human Capital Transition and Executive Coaching - (908) 822-9655 WEBSITE: http://www.exec-leadershipLLC.com
If you are seeking an Executive Coach for yourself or your organization, consider contacting CB Bowman, MBA, CMC at Executive Leadership, LLC 908.509.1744 cb@exec-leadershipllc.com; http://www.exec-leadershipllc.com.
CB Bowman, ia a Certified Master Coach and president, CEO of Executive Leadership, LLC. She is also the Chairperson and Founder for the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches (http://www.acec-website.org).
Among mid to senior level professionals Executive leadership LLC is the go to company for individuals and companies seeking human capital repositioning, development and/or growth through coaching, counseling, and strategic advice.
With her Fortune 500 business background, laser like precision, and a take no prisoners approach she swiftly narrows in on the issue, and unlike others, she presents financially sound, creative and action oriented solutions with infinite possibilities