In December 2025, a federal jury in Colorado awarded $11.5 million to a former employee of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) — the leading organization for HR professionals. The jury awarded $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages — finding that SHRM discriminated against the employee and then terminated her employment when she reported the discrimination. The case generated headlines not just because of the size of the award but also because SHRM is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to the practice of human resource management and publishes guidance that human resource departments rely on to properly execute their duties, which include conducting workplace investigations. The most important takeaway, though, is that employers need to be thoughtful and thorough in responding to and investigating complaints.
Key in the Mohammed case were questions about the impartiality and qualifications of the individual who investigated the employee’s complaints, and the lack of documentation of the investigation. The HR investigator’s impartiality was called into question by the fact that they played an active role in the individual who was being accused of discrimination’s communications with the employee who complained. The HR investigator’s lack of training and the fact that this was their first workplace discrimination investigation called into question their qualification to conduct the investigation. And finally,...
AT&T subsidiary Wisconsin Bell Inc. will pay $55 million to settle a long-running False Claims Act suit alleging it defrauded the Federal Communications Commission by overcharging schools and ...