Keep track of who recommends discipline.

If you leave discipline and termination decisions to specific managers, make sure that you document exactly who has input in those decisions.

Here's why: As this new court ruling shows, if you don't conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the underlying reasons, you may end up rubber-stamping a discriminatory recommendation.

Recent case: Tameshia, who worked at a Texas college, complained that her manager made inappropriate comments about her body. One day, that manager asked her to perform an extra cleaning project but Tameshia refused.

When she returned from leave, the college president called her in and fired her for insubordination. (The president had sole authority to make firing decisions.)

Tameshia sued, claiming she was actually fired for refusing her boss's romantic overtures. She said...