Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed several high profile lawsuits claiming that employer group medical insurance plans violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by imposing certain mandatory...more
Last month, the Seventh Circuit again rejected the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s attempt to declare an employer’s standard severance agreement illegal under Title VII. The EEOC and CVS Pharmacy have clashed over...more
Over the past several years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken a decidedly more aggressive position with regard to litigation against employers accused of discrimination. The EEOC has brought a number of...more
Plaintiffs can sue for employment discrimination under federal civil rights laws using two theories. Disparate treatment claims allege that the plaintiff was treated differently based on his or her protected status. Disparate...more
Employers in the Carolinas are by now familiar with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s digital charge processing system. The EEOC chose its Charlotte district office as one of the pilot locations for the new...more
The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act prohibits employers from requesting or discriminating against employees or applicants based on genetic information or family medical history. In recent years, the Equal...more
When investigating administrative charges of discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission often sends employers Requests for Information that seek details about employees similarly situated to the charging...more
In its most recent term, the U.S. Supreme Court held in the Mach Mining case that federal courts have limited ability to review whether or not the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission fulfilled its statutory duty to...more
On occasion, an employee’s medical condition may cause employers concern over that person’s ability to operate heavy machinery or otherwise to work in a hazardous environment. For example, an employee with epilepsy has...more
Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission garnered significant criticism from employers when it sued CVS over its standard releases used in conjunction with reductions in force and similar employee terminations....more
In recent administrative actions, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken the position that regular attendance is not an essential job function under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The agency views...more
Like most federal labor laws, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who oppose unlawful employment practices. However, a number of federal courts have adopted a...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to engage in an interactive process to determine if a qualified individual with a disability can perform the essential functions of the job through provision of...more
Employers routinely use Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) to notify employees of job performance issues. If an employee believes that they have unfairly been placed under a PIP, can this form the basis for an employment...more
As reported in EmployNews, over the past year the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has aggressively shifted its position on the extent of coverage of LGBT workers under Title VII. In federal employee cases where the...more
Sometimes, employees believe that they have been discriminated against or harassed based on their membership in multiple protected categories. Employers often receive EEOC charges that identify race and sex, or age and...more
Last year, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a controversial opinion absolving a clothing retailer from failing to hire a Muslim applicant for employment who did not tell the company that the headscarf worn at her job...more
Earlier this year, EmployNews reported on an EEOC decision indicating that employers must allow transgendered employees to use restrooms based on their gender identity regardless of co-worker complaints. In April, OFCCP...more
Title VII and related federal civil rights laws prohibit employers from retaliating against an employee who files a claim, participates in an investigation or opposes conduct prohibited under anti-discrimination laws....more
Green v. Donahoe involves a Postal Service worker who alleges that he was forced to choose between retirement and a demotion and transfer to another position. The plaintiff quit several months after being given this choice,...more
5/8/2015
/ Constructive Discharge ,
Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Limitation Periods ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
USPS ,
Wrongful Termination
Under Title VII, employees typically must file a charge of discrimination within 180 days (or 300 days in states such as South Carolina with their own EEO enforcement agencies) of the alleged discriminatory act. In its 2002...more
On Wednesday, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court agreed that federal courts have authority to review the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s attempts to conciliate discrimination charges when the agency concludes that the...more
Many employers and municipalities across the U.S. are considering changes to laws and rules governing access to restroom facilities by transgendered persons. Employers can struggle balancing the interests of transgendered...more
Employer-sponsored wellness programs attempt to control medical costs and improve employee health by incentivizing certain behaviors through medical monitoring, disease prevention strategies and other activities. Over the...more
For years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has cautioned employers against adopting strict English-only rules in the workplace. The EEOC considers such policies to constitute race and/or national origin...more