Recently in Employment Discrimination Category

There are some types of discrimination that may not be so obvious.

For example, there are not that many employers nowadays who engage in overt and obvious forms of discrimination. That's why you won't often see a classified ad that states "only whites need apply."

Still, we all know discrimination exists. Here are the Top 5 types of less obvious forms of employment discrimination that you should watch out for:

You work in a Chicago high-rise and believe that your boss or colleagues are discriminating against you. Can you simply march downstairs to the nearest employment law office and file a lawsuit? The answer is no. Instead, to file a proper claim, you need to follow the steps to file an employment discrimination charge.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) handles all discrimination charges and you generally must first file your complaint with the agency before bringing a private action.

Here's a look at the steps for filing a charge with the EEOC:

The words "racism" and "discrimination" are probably giving the administrators and legal staff of Chicago Public Schools nausea at this point. Less than two weeks after a lawsuit alleged that a former principal's reforms at a Chicago school negatively impacted African-American students and staff, another lawsuit about reforms and racism has been served on the district, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

For the last decade or so, CPS has carried out a number of "turnaround" programs at underperforming schools. For each school, the entire staff is sent packing and replaced with an entirely new team. The majority of these "turnarounds" have occurred at schools in the South and West Sides. These schools also employ the majority of African-American teachers.

National department store chain Dillard’s, which has three locations in Illinois, will pay $2 million and undergo significant changes to their policies regarding disabled and sick leave policies. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which brought the suit on behalf of Corina Scott, a former California employee, and an unknown number of others that may have been affected by Dillard’s policies, Dillard’s policies regarding disability leave violated a number of provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Beginning in 2005, Dillard’s adopted a new policy regarding sick leave that required employees to disclose their exact medical condition in order to be approved for leave - even if they had a doctor’s note. Those who took leave without providing specifics were terminated.

Let’s pull out that old cliché about smoke and fire. This is the fourth lawsuit to be filed by a former teacher from George Washington High School since now-retired principal Florence Gonzales took over the school and instituted sweeping changes that left many teachers unemployed and the racial composition of the school drastically altered.

This lawsuit, filed by formerly tenured teacher Michelle Nelson, alleged that she was fired because she is black. A district spokesperson told the Sun-Times that Nelson was fired for cause. What was that cause? She was sleeping at her ex-husband’s house, outside of Chicago, to care for her disabled and wheelchair-bound son.

Ho Ho Ho? Stop with the holiday cheer! There will be no St. Nick here, mister! This isn't the Grinch talking, but a lawyer, worried about your exposure to lawsuits. Sure, company parties can be a lot of fun, but they can also put you at risk for sexual harassment, wage and overtime, and discrimination lawsuits.

If you feel that employee morale is best served by having a holiday party, and you're willing to assume the risks associated with holiday parties, here are a few tips to minimize exposure:

Dorothy Shanks sought a temporary placement through Staffmark, a nationwide staffing agency. Her assignment, with a Sony's logistics and shipping facility, lasted less than two days before she was removed out of fear for her safety.

Why the concern? She has a prosthetic leg. Her Sony supervisors were afraid that someone would bump into her. Staffmark promised to find her another assignment where she could sit. Shockingly enough, they never did.

Much like beauty, the legal standard of "reasonableness" is in the eye of the beholder. What one person finds reasonable, an employer might think untenable. When it comes to time off for religious holidays, employees with unfamiliar religious practices can become a quandary for an employer. While they want to respect their employee's religious practices, they also need to have their staff available during working hours, without unpredictable days off.

The name of the game is reasonable compromise. United Parcel Services will learn this the expensive way, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The federal watchdog agency is suing UPS on behalf of a former employee who was denied time off to attend the Memorial of Christ's Death, which is an annual religious service for Jehovah's Witnesses.

We get the feeling that this verdict might be reduced on appeal.

Former Price is Right model Brandi Cochran, 41, sued the show after she was allegedly harassed and discriminated against for being pregnant. While pregnant with twins, she was referred to as a "wide load." She later was not allowed to return to her job after taking leave for complications with her pregnancy. The jury, after many days of deadlock, eventually awarded her over $8 million in damages.

Shortly after the city received the news of a $78.4 million tab for discriminating against African American firefighter candidates in 1995, and shortly before 111 of those candidates, hired over a decade later, graduated and became Chicago Firefighters, another lawsuit against the Chicago Fire Department was filed. This lawsuit also alleges discrimination, though this time the claims allege unfair hiring practices that affect women, reports the Sun-Times.

Like every fire department, Chicago uses a physical abilities test to ensure that the firefighting candidates can carry a hose up a flight of stairs, or drag an obese man out of his bathtub. The lawsuit filed on October 26 claims that the test does not reflect the skills needed to succeed as a firefighter and instead unfairly screens out female candidates.