Dive Brief:
- A Colorado jury on Friday returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in SHRM’s race discrimination and retaliation trial, awarding the plaintiff compensatory damages of $1.5 million and punitive damages of $10 million.
- “We strongly disagree with today’s court ruling and with respect we will continue to move through the process by appealing this decision to the highest courts in the land,” SHRM responded in a statement released Friday.
- The unfavorable verdict is the latest challenge in what has been a rocky year for SHRM.
Dive Insight:
The jury verdict came in Friday afternoon, capping off a week-long trial that dug into allegations from a former instructional designer that the HR organization retaliated against her and set her up to be fired after she complained that her supervisor favored direct reports who were White over those who were not.
SHRM was adamant the jury had reached the wrong conclusion.
“This claim has no merit. None. Today’s decision does not reflect the facts, the law, or the truth of how SHRM operates,” SHRM said. “We have acted with integrity, transparency, and in full alignment with our values and obligations. We remain steadfast in our mission, undeterred in our focus, and resolute in our commitment to stand up for what is right.”
The plaintiff’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and SHRM declined to expand upon its Friday response.
The trial and verdict have set off a discussion about SHRM’s role as a “model employer” — an image it projects in its self-description as the “the foremost expert, researcher, advocate, and thought leader on issues and innovations impacting today’s evolving workplaces,” but a term it sought to back away from in the legal setting before the trial.
Ashley Herd, founder and CEO of Manager Method and co-host of the “HR Besties” podcast, said in a recent LinkedIn post that all HR leaders should be paying attention to the case. “It’s a reminder of why processes and conversations matter — and how easy it can be for ‘best practices’ to not actually be followed in real life,” she wrote.
Eric Meyer, partner at Pierson Ferdinand LLP and writer of The Employer Handbook, said the verdict holds a number of lessons for employers. “Once an employee reports discrimination, timing becomes a critical part of the story,” he noted in a blog post. “Retaliation cases often succeed because the sequence of events looks suspicious in hindsight rather than because of proven intent.”