The Indiana Publisher

January 2019 Page 4 The following questions were submitted by the Dearborn County Register (Lawrenceburg), North Vernon Sun and North Vernon Plain Dealer: We keep hard cop- ies of the Publisher's Claims, along with any paperwork associated with the ad. Is there a set number of years that we should keep them? I just don't want to start purging files too early. Most laws have a two- year statute of limitations to challenge an action taken by a government agency. That's the time period I recom- mend you keep those records. A discussion has arisen regarding an ad placed by a cleaning company seeking a dependable "lady" for work in a factory set- ting. If this ad is discriminatory, is the newspaper in any way lia- ble? I know housing regulations are different than employment ads, but this particular position could be filled by either a man or a woman, so should the ad just state "person" to join our team, rather than "lady?" You are correct that the job is not gender-specific. I recommend that you have them remove the reference to "lady" to protect themselves from a potential civil rights com- plaint. You also are correct that the liability for the newspaper is different if discriminatory language is published concern- ing an employment ad or a real estate ad. With an employment ad, newspaper isn't liable for the language unless it was involved in the drafting of the ad wording. With Fair Housing Act though, newspaper is liable, even if all you did was accept and publish the ad. With employment ads, it is still good to do what you are doing – protect your client from hurting him/herself with improper language in the ad. Send your questions to Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, skey@hspa.com. HSPA Legal Hotline Two years is sufficient amount of time to save paperwork claims Q Q Advise client to remove gender-specific language from employment ad A A The Nina Mason Pulliam Environmental Journalism Award was created through a grant by the Pulliam Trust to the Hoosier State Press Associa- tion Foundation to recognize Indiana journalists for outstanding reporting on environmental issues. The award was part of the HSPA Better Newspaper Contest for the first time in 2018. It will be presented again at the 2019 Newsroom Seminar where Indiana newspaper journalists are honored each year. Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust $1,000 Environmental Journalism Award Hoosier State Press Association Foundation Is your newspaper working on an interesting story package or launching an innovative project? Tell us about it. Email news@hspa.com.

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