In April, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released two long-awaited final documents aimed at strengthening worker protections: the final rule implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA, or...more
5/8/2024
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Labor Reform ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
Earlier this month, the EEOC released proposed regulations to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA,” or the “Act”), which we initially wrote about. (The proposed rule can be found on the Federal Register’s...more
8/30/2023
/ Breastfeeding ,
Comment Period ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the 2023 Omnibus Spending Bill into law. Buried in the legislation were two new laws providing additional protection for pregnant and nursing employees in the workplace: the...more
1/12/2023
/ Breastfeeding ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Reform ,
New Legislation ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a news alert yesterday addressing the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act on employers’ responses to a potential...more
3/5/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Best Practices ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Risk Management ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The risk of coronavirus may be lower than the flu, but with the numbers of cases and fatalities growing in China and a handful of cases in the United States, some are calling for schools, colleges, and universities to take...more
2/11/2020
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
China ,
Colleges ,
Educational Institutions ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Emergency Response ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Health and Safety ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Students ,
Teachers ,
Universities ,
Workplace Safety
On December 12, 2016, the EEOC issued a new Q&A style document entitled “Depression, PTSD, & Other Mental Health Conditions in the Workplace: Your Legal Rights.”
While clearly aimed at employees with mental health...more
Like the rest of the country, employers and HR professionals are left wondering what Donald Trump’s unexpected election as President means for the country. The Trump campaign was often light on detailed policy proposals, but...more
11/15/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Arbitration ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Deportation ,
E-Verify ,
Employee Restrooms ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
H-1B ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Immigrants ,
Judicial Appointments ,
LGBTQ ,
Maternity Leave ,
Minimum Salary ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRB ,
Over-Time ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Right to Work ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
If there is a secret to avoiding or, if necessary, winning lawsuits involving employee requests for religious accommodations, it is this: be reasonable. Two recent federal appeals court rulings highlight this seemingly...more