Starbucks Illustrates Discrimination Claims Not Limited to Sexual Harassment

A recent lawsuit filed against Starbucks by the EEOC serves as a reminder that high profile workplace discrimination claims are not limited to sexual harassment.

The suit alleges that Starbucks knew the plaintiff had psychiatric disorders when they hired her.  Store managers initially accommodated the employee's needs by giving her extra time to learn drinks and being supportive.  Then, a new manager was brought in.  That's when things took a turn for the worse.  The manager allegedly lowered the employee's hours, berated her in front of customers and eventually fired her.

One of the biggest training errors that I see employers make is to actually carve out critical content on race, age, disability, national origin and sexual orientation to ensure more robust treatment of sexual harassment.  I call it the dreaded “silo syndrome.”

Why is this such a big mistake?  Well, you just have to pay attention to the numbers (and live in reality.)  According to the EEOC's most recent stats, discrimination charges from 2005 break down as follows:

• Sex discrimination - 30.6%
• Retaliation - 29.5%
• Age - 22%
• Disability - 19.7%
• National origin - 10.7%
• Religion - 3.1%
• Equal pay - 1.3%

As workforces age and diversify, you can expect to see further differentiation in claim type – and increased liability in areas beyond sex discrimination.  And when it comes to disability, be sure to address both physical and mental conditions.  As evidenced by the Starbuck’s case, there is a growing number of lawsuits and claims associated with mental disabilities.  This is a topic your supervisors may not know much about.  If they are in California, the stakes are even higher given the elevated state protections that go beyond those offered by the American’s with Disabilities Act.

So make sure your training programs cover a broad range of protected categories.  Avoid the silo syndrome, which will not only create legal risk at your organization – but will also send the message to your workforce that you aren’t paying attention to (or worse, don’t care about) other critical discrimination issues.

Tags: Federal Harassment Training, harassment training, sexual harassment training, starbucks discrimination,