It is a difficult position to find yourself in, but some employers are accused of discriminating against their employees by some of the employees that they’ve worked with and trained for months or years. It can be frustrating to you, because you took the time to work with this person and try to make their lives easier. You might always have had their best interests at heart.
Still, a claim of discrimination is serious, and it’s one that you can’t ignore. You shouldn’t brush it off as if it has no substance. Even if you didn’t discriminate against the employee personally, they may feel that a rule is unfair to them or that a colleague is treating them inappropriately.
If discrimination comes up, talk it out
One of the better things to do in this kind of situation is to listen to the employee. You’re not obligated to, and shouldn’t, admit that you did anything wrong, but you should be willing to talk to the employee about their concerns and hear what they have to say.
In most cases, people just want to know that they’re heard and that things will change. For example, if a pregnant employee claims they weren’t allowed to sit during the last shift but that they need that accommodation, you can take additional steps to make sure everyone knows that they are allowed to do so and remove the supervisor or colleague from schedules that conflict with the pregnant employees. Doing something like this would likely prevent a claim against you and make you look like a positive, helpful employer.
What you don’t want to do is try to sweep claims under the rug in the hopes that they’ll go away. If one or more of your employees starts to think that you’re not being considerate of them and are being discriminatory, then you could find yourself facing claims from multiple people.
Before legal issues get out of hand, it’s always wise to discuss them with your legal support team, so you know that you’re on the right side of the law. If not, you may need to take corrective actions.