The legal challenges relate to "abortion accommodation." Not long ago, I blogged about two legal challenges to the regulations interpreting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. In one case, 14 state attorneys general filed...more
Pregnancy regs, harassment guidance under fire. Not long ago, I reported that a number of state attorneys general had filed suit seeking to block the final regulations interpreting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Their...more
A lot has changed since Mother's Day 2023. Happy Mother's Day weekend, all, including you dads and kids (we couldn't have done it without you)!
How much do you know about pregnancy in the workplace in 2023? Take our quiz...more
5/10/2024
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Documentation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Healthcare ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII
*And are sorry you asked. Last Friday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published its final regulations on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The regulations will take effect on June 18, just under a year since...more
4/26/2024
/ Abortion ,
Adverse Employment Action ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship
It's worth a read. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently released a proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, and it's quite good. Don't let the length intimidate you. If you aren't an...more
10/6/2023
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Comment Period ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corrective Actions ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
LGBTQ ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Expression ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Transgender ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
These six will get the EEOC's attention in 2024-28.
Last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released its Strategic Enforcement Plan for 2024-28. Strategic Enforcement Plans provide a helpful preview of...more
9/29/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bias ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Pregnancy ,
Retaliation ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Vulnerable Victims
As most of you know, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act took effect on June 27, but employers had virtually no guidance regarding how to comply.
The PWFA requires employers with 15 or more employees to make reasonable...more
Happy Mother's Day weekend.
How much do you know about the new Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which will take effect only six short weeks from now? Take our Mother’s Day quiz and find out! You don’t have to be a mother (or...more
Not in my opinion.
The following scenario was in this morning's Miss Manners column. You may need a paid subscription to access, but here's the gist:
Employee is 20-something, happily married, and just learned that she is...more
Pregnancy and lactation accommodation.
Happy new year! Two pieces of legislation included in the $1.7 trillion Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Spending Bill signed into law by President Biden on December 29 will enhance workplace...more
Fictional, but based on a true story.
It was a dark and stormy night.
There I was, the second shift HR supervisor, trying to renew my annual subscription to SHRM during some down time. It was about 9:30 p.m.
"Your credit...more
Don't rely on it too much -- yet.
We recently got our first federal court decision addressing whether an employer had the right to require employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The court's answer was yes...
...more
7/2/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Food and Drug Act ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Popular ,
Pregnancy ,
Religious Exemption ,
Suspensions ,
Termination ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Can employers breathe easy now?
Last Saturday, I went to the supermarket and did my weekly grocery shopping without a mask.
It was glorious! And completely legal!
But employers may not be as elated as I am, now that...more
5/21/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Documentation ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Incentives ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Pregnancy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Remote Working ,
Social Distancing ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Here are some suggestions for making it painless.
Although the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a feeling of "impending doom" about COVID-19, many employers are ready to get back to normal. ...more
4/1/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Child Care ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Pregnancy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Remote Working ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
Telecommuting ,
Vaccinations
(Still 100 percent guaranteed non-partisan.)
The Democrats' debate this week in Charleston, South Carolina, brought to light two workplace pregnancy horror stories, neither of which may have actually happened. But they...more
"Let's turn over -- a new leaf."
"And, baby, let's make promises -- that we can keep. We'll call it a New Year's resolution . . ."
Now that the New Year's celebrations are over, it's time to start thinking about...more
And dads get to play, too.
After all, we wouldn't be moms without you! ;-)
Happy Mother's Day weekend! How much do you know about moms in the workplace? Take our quiz and find out! As always, the answers appear at the end...more
Pow! Pow! Pow!
The College of Wooster, in Wooster, Ohio (student body approx. 2,000), is going to have to go to trial on a triple whammy of pregnancy discrimination, failure to accommodate a disability, and violations of the...more
I'm gonna say no.
But yes, if you believe Katherine Goldstein of The New York Times. In "The Open Secret of Anti-Mom Bias at Work," she provides an anecdote about a female, feminist boss -- of all people -- who fired a...more
Yikes. Sounds like Japan is past due for a Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
According to the Daily Mail, workers in Japan who want to get pregnant are expected to do it in order of seniority (meaning, "time on the job" rather...more
A residential care provider has settled an EEOC lawsuit alleging failure to accommodate an employee's pregnancy.
Silverado Menomenee Falls, LLC, a residential care provider, has settled a lawsuit filed by the Equal...more
Last month, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Federal Bar Association about hot topics under the Americans with Disabilities Act with my blogging buddy Bill Goren, proprietor of the Understanding the ADA blog. If you...more
The month of August was not kind to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC’s wellness regulations were shot down by a federal court in the District of Columbia, and earlier this week the agency was told that it...more
Happy Mother’s Day weekend to all of you who are, or who have, mothers.
(I think that covers everybody.)
I couldn’t think of a better way to start this weekend than with a quiz on pregnancy discrimination, lactation...more
A federal appeals court panel has come out with a decision interpreting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year in Young v. UPS, and the result wasn’t too good for the employer.
The Sheriff’s Department of Ulster...more