This particular case shows how HR professionals sometimes find themselves caught between employer demands and legal requirements.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from discriminating in hiring and other employment decisions on the basis of sex, among other protected classes. Based on the EEOC’s complaint, the HR workers were likely familiar with this statute.
Compliance-aware HR pros have also taken steps that protect their employers from liability, as in the case of an HR department that quickly addressed a harassment complaint through an investigation. Due to the department’s prompt action, the employer could not be held liable for harassment, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held.
