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A Well-Designed Affirmative Action Plan Can Help You Avoid Discrimination Lawsuits

In an article titled Litigation Explosion, which appeared in the December 10, 2006 edition of the Arizona Daily Star, author Becky Pallack discusses a University of Arizona study that says employee lawsuits are on the rise:

“The researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and found 95,115 claims of employment discrimination nationwide in 2005.Federal employment discrimination lawsuits are up 268 percent since 1991, rising at a rate nine times as fast as other types of federal civil litigation.”

The financial effect on business from this increase in litigation has been devastating:

“For employers, the fallout from the lawsuit boom is expensive. Employers facing discrimination lawsuits were ordered by courts to pay $101.3 million in 2005, up nearly 600 percent from $14.7 million in 1992; and employers paid another $271.6 million in settlements, up 130 percent since 1992.”

As if this wasn’t enough, the EEOC has begun a new initiative, E-RACE (Eradicating Racism and Colorism from Employment), which is designed to improve the agency’s efforts to ensure workplaces are free of race and color discrimination. As part of this new strategy, the EEOC has said that it plans to “identify issues, criteria and barriers that contribute to race and color discrimination, explore strategies to improve the administrative processing and the litigation of race and color discrimination claims, and enhance public awareness of race and color discrimination in employment.”

With this increased emphasis on workplace discrimination, it is more important than ever to develop an effective affirmative action plan. Here are some tips to help you design a road map for ending discriminatory practices in your company:

·   Show commitment – Determine your diversity goals, make a plan to reach those goals, and then work the plan to its conclusion.

·   Identify the specific inequities you want to address – Before you create your diversity plan, perform the analysis required by law to identify what imbalances exist between the makeup of your workforce and the diversity of the workforce in the surrounding area. These are the areas your plan needs to address.

·   Perform an analysis of barriers to success – You will need to list what barriers to diversity exist in your business before you can create an effective affirmative action program. Start by asking yourself if individuals from a particular class are underrepresented in a job category. If the answer is “yes,” you need to figure out why. Is it because you recruit through word of mouth, which may be perpetuating your company’s homogeneous workforce? Where do you conduct interviews for new employees? Is it accessible to all types of applicants? If you advertise in newspapers, are they readily available to different ethnic populations?

·   Target the specific practice(s) that need altering – The corrective measures you select must be designed to remedy the imbalances identified in your assessment. If your company’s interview process puts minority candidates at a disadvantage, then focus on recruiting practices. If you have a lack of inclusion in a job category because you cannot find employees with the necessary skill set, then consider a more proactive job-training program.

·   Specify a timetable to accomplish goals – Have a clear picture of what the program needs to accomplish, and when that progress needs to take place. The ultimate success of your program is dependent upon having a quantifiable time line that clearly establishes the date by which each of your goals will be accomplished.

House Fires do Happen: Take Steps to Prevent a Fire in Your Home

According to the American Red Cross, 80% of Americans don’t realize that home fires are the single most common disaster in our country.  In fact, each year fire kills more U.S. citizens than all other natural disasters combined. However, most people aren’t aware of this because house fires are “silent disasters,” seldom receiving the same publicity as floods, hurricanes and earthquakes.

Another little known fact is that very few fires are caused by natural events such as lightning or static electricity. The American Red Cross says that faulty appliances and faulty wiring cause the greatest number of house fires. The second most common source is heating devices such as kerosene heaters, wood stoves and fireplaces. These devices cause fires when furniture, boxes or clothing are placed too near to them, and the material overheats and bursts into flames. Although human error is often the catalyst for house fires, human preparedness can prevent them.

Here are some tips to keep your family and property safe:

* Purchase only quality household equipment that has been tested by Underwriters’ Laboratories (UL) or other appropriate testing facilities.

*Be certain that  household equipment is installed by a technician who has been trained how to properly install, and also knows the appropriate building code requirements for the installation.

*Have your electrical wiring and heating periodically checked to be sure they are in proper working condition.

*If an appliance is behaving erratically, don’t operate it.  Instead, call a qualified repairman to find the problem and correct it.

*Control the amount of combustible material in your home by removing cardboard boxes, newspapers, old mattresses, rags, leftover paint and other items that are no longer in use. In fact, you should periodically inspect the attic and the cellar to be sure that you aren’t storing any combustible materials that should be discarded.

*Check the type of wall finishes in your home to ensure they aren’t conducive to spreading a fire. Plaster and gypsum board retard fire growth. Plywood paneling made of compressed wood pulp, known as beaverboard, accelerates the spread of fire in dwellings.

*Place fire extinguishers so they are readily available in the event a fire starts. It is important to understand what type of fire extinguisher to use:

-Class A extinguishers can be used to put out fires in wood, rubber, cloth, and paper.

-Class B CO2 or foam-filled extinguishers can be used for fires in flammable liquids, greases and gases.

-Class C CO2 or foam-filled extinguishers can be used for fires in energized electrical equipment.

-Halon can be used on any type of fire.

*It is of utmost importance to put a smoke detector in every room.

*Schedule regular practice fire drills. Be sure children are completely familiar with the correct way to evacuate in the event of a fire.

*Don’t let your family be the victim of this “silent disaster.” Become familiar with these fire prevention tips and put them into practice.