Does your organization have a policy about posting opportunities for job promotions? If not, you could be putting your company at risk for litigation.

In fact, there have been several recent court cases regarding this very issue.

In one case, a female employee quit because a male colleague received a promotion she believed she was qualified for. The promotion was never advertised, so she wasn’t aware it existed. So she sued her former employer, alleging sexual discrimination.

The employer countered that there was no discrimination since she never applied for the job and therefore could not have been considered. But the court disagreed and said that she couldn’t have applied for the promotion because it wasn’t advertised and therefore she could in fact sue the employer over the missed opportunity (Culver v. CCL Label, No. 10-5353, 6th Cir., 2012). The female employee eventually lost the case, but not after her former employer spent a considerable sum of money defending itself against the initial legal action, along with a lengthy appeal process.

And to think, this could have all been avoided through one simple action – advertising the promotion.

As one of the leading Northwest staffing agencies, we can tell you that even though you’re not required by federal law to post opportunities for promotions, it’s really in your best interest to do so in order to avoid a potential legal claim. And remember, even if you’re innocent of any wrongdoing, the legal representation you’ll need to hire in order to prove it will get expensive…fast. But when you advertise a promotion – along with minimum job requirements – no one can sue you over a lost opportunity.

In addition, besides helping you avoid legal claims, posting all promotions just makes good business sense. Why? Because it demonstrates to your employees that you offer equal access to opportunity, enhancing employee morale and loyalty in the process.