VINCENT SCHILLING Correspondent

According to attorney Barry Rowell, employers need to treat the prevention of work-related discrimination charges like a game.

“To play the game, managers and employees need to know the rules,” said Rowell, an employment attorney with Valverde & Rowell PC in Virginia Beach. “I can’t stress enough, take all complaints seriously.”

On July 16, local employers, small-business owners and human resources personnel attended a seminar called “EEOC Charges – Effective Employer Response Strategies,” put on by the Pinnacle Group of Virginia Beach. Attendees learned how to help their companies respond to charges of discrimination filed by employees with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Rowell was the event’s speaker.

During the seminar, Rowell reviewed EEOC policies and procedures and discussed employer strategies on mediation and appropriate responses to employee allegations. Participants also learned ways to lessen the chances of formal charges being filed.

The reasons employees file charges fall into four categories, Rowell said. First, an employee may genuinely feel he or she has been discriminated against. Secondly, the employer did not address concerns internally, and thirdly, there was an inconsistent application of company policy. The fourth reason is an opportunistic current or former employee.

Rowell said there has been a rise in EEOC claims with the downturn in the economy. “I know that the EEOC workload has increased dramatically, and with the timelines to respond to those increases in workloads, the EEOC staff is having a hard time keeping up.”

He noted ways to help prevent discrimination charges when layoffs are the result of a weak economy. Rowell stressed the importance of annual training for managers and supervisors, employee training, getting signed confirmations of receipt of company policies and employee handbooks, and disseminating a clear companywide no-harassment and EEOC/discrimination policy.

It’s also important for employers to have an open-door policy, where employees can feel comfortable voicing complaints, and an employee hot line that allows workers to file anonymous complaints. But having policies in place is not enough. Employers, HR professionals and managers need to ensure that every complaint is followed up.

“Encourage internal complaints. No, that is not an error: Encourage internal complaints,” Rowell said.

Letting employees know that all complaints are taken seriously and providing a clearly defined complaint procedure should help keep the possibility of formal charges at bay, he said.

But not always. According to Rowell, if any employer does receive a charge of discrimination filed by the EEOC, “it is decision time, the clock is ticking and time is money. And as the clock ticks, damages may continue to build.

“The first phone call should be to your attorney,” he said. “When the investigation [of alleged discrimination] is conducted at the direction of the attorney, the attorney/client privilege applies. This means that any information gathered is considered confidential and privileged.”

There are three techniques companies may employ when addressing formal EEOC discrimination complaints, Rowell said. A company may develop a corporate strategy to resolve all charges quickly regardless of merit because of a nuisance value.

“From my experience this is not a great strategy because it coerces employees to file charges,” he said. “Additionally, some larger companies vigorously defend every charge. But this approach is also not effective because it requires lots of capital.

“The most recommended approach,” Rowell said, “is to take a position somewhere in the middle and to carefully assess each charge based on its merits.”

Employers should be thorough in their investigations of claims and respond with necessary actions within the company. It is not always necessary to settle claims monetarily, said Rowell, who added that in his career, he never accepted the initial conciliation settlement offer made by the EEOC.

Jeanne Rider, human resource coordinator at the Norfolk architectural firm Hanbury, Evans, Wright, Vlattas + Co., who attended the seminar, said, “I have never personally had an EEOC claim. [But] we have such a wide variety of people, this is something I want to be kept updated on. Most management is not aware of what is necessary. I think the hardest part of the HR’s job, is that many managers don’t want to hear it.”

Lisa Bertini is an attorney and president of Bertini O’Donnell & Hammer PC, a Norfolk law firm. In 23 years of practice, she has represented a multitude of employees filing discrimination claims. She has also represented 18 clients on the employer side of the fence.

In a separate interview, Bertini mirrored a lot of what Rowell had said during his EEOC seminar.

“One thing I tell employers is to ‘get your training to your supervisors,’” Bertini said. “No matter how strong you are in your HR department or with your president or top people, the people making the mistakes are much lower down in the workforce.”

Bertini said managers who have the ability to promote or demote represent the company and act as the employer in terms of a lawsuit.

“You want to make sure they are educated on what they can and can’t do from a company perspective,” she said. “What I see a lot of is these lovely little laminated employment manuals, but then there is no real education on what the law is to lower-level supervisors.”