The gears of corporate justice can grind slowly at big companies such as United Airlines, which has more than 100,000 employees. But experts say legal departments would do well to swab grease on those gears when it comes to addressing employee complaints of discrimination.

Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued United, the world's largest airline, alleging it took undue delays in investigating an Asian-American employee's complaint that a high-level manager called him a racial slur during an incident three years ago.