A warning to biased bosses.

A June U.S. Supreme Court decision in Desert Palace v. Costa makes it easier to successfully sue for workplace discrimination by ruling that a Las Vegas woman was not required to provide "direct evidence" of sex-based discrimination when she was fired from a hotel. As a result, employers are now going to have to be more aware of bias issues, according to Sondra Thiederman, author of the forthcoming book Making Diversity Work: Seven Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace (Dearborn).

"That court decision metals an individual does not have to have as much evidence of discrimination as they used to [to win a lawsuit]," she said. Her book, which includes sit, rations involving bias toward gay and lesbian employees, helps employers identify bias among individuals, the best way to ward off such lawsuits, she said.