Preventing Family Responsibilities Discrimination Claims October 22, 2010

"I don't see how you can handle this job and your responsibilities at home." These words can present powerful evidence against your company in a lawsuit for family responsibilities discrimination "FRD". Ensure your managers know the liability risk associated with making comments like this to employees who are caregivers.

FRD claims are growing at an explosive rate of 400% and result in liability for the employer in approximately half of all cases. Statistics suggest that this litigation trend will continue. One in four employed men and women has elder care responsibilities, and one in ten employees is a member of the "sandwich generation" with both child care and elder care responsibilities. Develop clear policies, educate your managers and discover how you can prevent FRD claims by:

*Implementing an FRD anti-discrimination policy
*Auditing relevant policies and practices
*Raising awareness through training
*Adopting procedures for responding to complaints

About the Presenter
Elise Clowes is an attorney who has represented employers for over 27 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. She works with large and small businesses to resolve employment issues with a minimum of disruption and expense. Elise provides a complete range of employment law and human resource services, including day-to-day counseling, human resources administration and litigation in California courts and administrative agencies. After working as a partner in a Bay Area law firm, Elise opened her own law office in 2004. She also works part-time as Counsel for the UC Hastings Center for WorkLife Law, focusing on employer related FRD issues. For more information, go to www.cloweslaw.com and http://worklifelaw.org/.

Official Website: http://www.nchra.org