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Sexual harassment allegations raise a number of potential legal issues for any employer. In addition to exposure to liability under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Arkansas Civil Rights Act, the Arkansas Court of Appeals recently addressed the potential impact of sexual harassment allegations on an employer’s liability for unemployment compensation claims.

Since the New York Times published a bombshell report detailing sexual harassment by Hollywood producer and filmmaker Harvey Weinstein, the fallout has been continuous will allegations pouring out almost daily about patterns and instances of harassment by prominent entertainment and political figures.

Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Glenn Thrush, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Clinton, Bill Cosby, Donald Trump, Kevin Spacey, Russell Simmons, Roy Moore, and the list goes on and on. This renewed focus on sexual assault and sexual harassment is guaranteed to bring more emphasis on this hot topic in the workplace in the coming years.

With sexual harassment complaints dominating the news nationwide, it is likely to cause more lawsuits against employers. Wayne Young spoke to Arkansas Business's Mark Friedman on what companies should be doing now to prevent harassment altogether and to protect themselves against future litigation.

News Alert: The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently addressed whether the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) requires employers to provide employees with leave beyond the 12 weeks provided by the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) in Severson v. Heartland Woodcraft, Inc., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 18197*, 872 F.3d 476 (7th Cir. Sept. 20, 2017).

Michael Moore presented three separate programs at last week's (Thursday, Oct. 24) National Business Institute's Advanced Employment Law Seminar. His first presentation, "Conducting an Effective Internal Investigation," focused on what to consider during the investigation, whether to outsource or keep the matter in-house and ways to legally remedying the problem.

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