Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits race discrimination in employment, but it does not define what race means. Over the past decade, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has shifted its definition of...more
Despite the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s more nuanced position, federal courts have generally rejected attempts by plaintiffs to claim that an indefinite leave of absence is a required reasonable accommodation...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with medical disabilities. The ADA also prohibits employers from disclosing information about an employee’s medical...more
When an employer provides an employee with a release and settlement agreement, the document regularly includes provisions that prohibit the employee from criticizing the employer and related parties. Several years ago, the...more
Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum to U.S. Attorneys announcing that the Department of Justice has reversed its position on the coverage of transgender people as protected under Title VII of the...more
From time to time, we encounter businesses described by their owners as managed and operated under Christian principles. The owners explain that they use their personal faith to guide their business decisions, including...more
Perhaps the most frequent question we receive with regard to employee medical leave involves the following scenario: An employee requests and is provided family and medical leave. Upon the expiration of the 12-week FMLA...more
Two recent major news stories again involve the intersection of politics with employment law. In the first matter, Google fired a programmer after he posted an internal document criticizing the company’s diversity...more
8/23/2017
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Diversity ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Google ,
Hate Speech ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Political Expression ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation
Contrary to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) position discussed in last week’s EmployNews, federal courts continue to allow employers to require employees to actually come to work. Last month, the Fifth...more
As technology makes it more possible for employees to work from remote locations, employers are increasingly faced with requests from employees to work from home. When these requests are based on medical reasons, the employer...more
On July 6, the full Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals declined to hear the appeal of a case dismissing a sexual orientation bias claim under Title VII for lack of jurisdiction. This decision creates a split among the federal...more
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina and South Carolina) affirmed a $600,000 jury verdict in favor of a West Virginia coal miner who refused to use a new biometric hand scanner installed by his...more
For years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) divided sexual harassment claims into two distinct categories. Hostile environment harassment related to creation of an offensive work environment based on sexual...more
On Tuesday, the full Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s prohibition against sex discrimination also includes protections against employees being discriminated against...more
In a disturbingly increasing number of charge investigations, employers have faced broad information requests from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), including requests that appear unrelated to the charging...more
The scenario is familiar to employers responding to a Charge of Discrimination filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Even though the Charge only includes claims of discrimination by one person, the...more
Several years ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) raised employers’ eyebrows when it filed several lawsuits challenging the validity of employer-sponsored wellness programs. The EEOC contended that such...more
Last month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed its earlier position that compensatory and punitive damages are not available to plaintiffs who allege violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)....more
The policy seemed straightforward. A hospital required all employees to receive seasonal flu vaccinations based on its assessment of the dangers of influenza to patients with compromised immune systems. The hospital went...more
For years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has taken the administrative position that if a disabled employee can no longer perform his or her job, the employer must place that employee in a vacant position...more
Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released an updated Enforcement Guidance on national origin discrimination under Title VII. The Guidance is used by EEOC investigators to help determine whether a...more
Employees can consider a working environment to be hostile due to sexual conduct, even when the workplace is all male or all female. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and federal courts have long held that...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently approved revisions to its 2017-2021 Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP). The SEP provides employers with an indication of where the agency will concentrate...more
Since the inception of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken the position that employees can trigger the Act’s reasonable accommodation obligations without having to ask...more
Late last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its revised Form EEO-1. For the first time, the form will require employers to provide summary information about employee pay broken down by gender, race and...more