Dive Brief:
- A Publix worker from Senegal who, according to surveillance footage backed his tractor and trailer into a loading dock, was fired because he said didn’t know how or when the damage had occurred — not because of race or national origin discrimination, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (Tamba v. Publix Super Markets, Inc., No. 19-14108 (11th Cir., Nov. 20, 2020)).
- After his termination, the plaintiff sued, alleging bias. Among other things, he said he was subjected to discrimination at a staff meeting when other employees laughed at his accent and repeatedly asked him where he was from.
- A district court granted summary judgment to Publix on the discrimination claim and the appeals court agreed. The 11th Circuit said the plaintiff had not established that the employer's reason for firing him was pretext for discrimination, noting that the company's handbook explicitly prohibited dishonesty; in fact, "dishonesty alone may lead to employment termination," it said.
Dive Insight:
An up-to-date employee handbook that provides a clear statement of an employer’s policies and procedures can prevent miscommunication and serve as a defense if a matter goes to court. On the other hand, opaque policies may cause problems: In 2017, for example, a judge refused to dismiss an employee's Family and Medical Leave Act claim after the employer's poorly-worded policy caused the employee to be confused as to how much leave she had available.
Handbooks can take many forms. Some highlight company culture, some provide a welcome kit and a few, such as the one used by auto manufacturer and energy company Tesla, adopt a different approach. Tesla's "anti-handbook" focuses on the employer's standards rather than serving as a detailed description of the company's obligations under state, federal and local laws and contains information about safety and brief descriptions of Tesla's time off, attendance, tardiness and vacation policies, among other things. A section titled "stupid stuff" outlines potential infractions and tells the reader that "if you think you're the type of person who might do something that could be on a list of stupid stuff, do us all a favor and leave now."
But even after careful handbook assembly, employers face a significant hurdle; getting employees to read the handbook is HR’s top handbook headache, according to Oct. 20 survey results from XpertHR. Two-thirds of the 619 U.S. employers that responded said they found it "somewhat" or "very" challenging to get employees to read handbooks. Other top-rated challenges included keeping the handbook compliant with state laws and training managers to enforce its rules.