Seyfarth Synopsis: In June 2024, Seyfarth published a blog article warning construction industry employers of recent anti-harassment guidelines issued by the EEOC. We predicted that the EEOC has “put the construction...more
9/17/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Construction Industry ,
Discrimination ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Race Discrimination ,
Settlement ,
Sex Discrimination
Seyfarth Synopsis: In two cases issued by the Seventh Circuit, Passarella and Dottenwhy v. Aspirus, Inc. and Bube and Hedrington v. Aspirus Hospital, Inc. the Court held that at the motion to dismiss stage, the fact that a...more
8/29/2024
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Religious Exemption ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations
In a written opinion issued on March 7, 2024, the EEOC confirmed that an employee must not only show a sincerely held religious belief, but that the employee’s religious belief is actually in conflict with the workplace...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A unanimous Supreme Court has issued its decision in Groff v. Dejoy, clarifying Title VII’s undue hardship standard to mean “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: We may be past the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but decisions from COVID-19 vaccine litigation have the potential to affect far more than pandemic-specific employment practices. The Massachusetts...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Yesterday the Supreme Court held oral argument in Groff v. DeJoy, a case in which the Court is considering whether to overturn decades of precedent established by the seminal religious accommodation case,...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A Third Circuit ruling against a former United States Postal Service employee’s Title VII religious discrimination claim is under review at the Supreme Court in Groff v. DeJoy. Petitioner’s brief urged the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: As of February 28, 2023, diverse coalitions – including a host of Republican Congressmen and 22 state Attorneys General – have filed nearly thirty amicus briefs urging the United States Supreme Court to...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Gerald Groff was a carrier for the United States Postal Service, but his religious beliefs prohibited him from working on Sundays in observation of the Sabbath. USPS offered to find employees to cover...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Despite President Biden’s recent declaration that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, litigation concerning employer vaccine mandates continues as employers face hurdles to ensure workplace safety and compliance...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On July 13, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) issued an emergency use authorization (“EUA”) for the Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted. Beyond adding another vaccination option in the...more
Among the most common types of wage and hour lawsuits in Massachusetts are independent contractor misclassification suits. These actions arise when an individual who provides a service claims that: (1) he or she was...more
Even fair-minded employers, with sound policies, face “off-the-clock” claims. That is, employers have to defend against lawsuits in which employees argue that they worked hours for which their employers failed to pay them. ...more
Effective July 1, 2018, the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (the “Act”) requires employers to pay employees of different genders equal wages for comparable work unless the difference in pay is explained by the Act’s enumerated...more
Tip #1: Consider An Arbitration Agreement—With A Class Action Waiver -
Until recently, there has been much debate about the enforceability of arbitration agreements containing class action waivers. Courts disagreed as to...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The 8th Circuit recently held that while a request for a religious accommodation may qualify as a protected activity, it is not necessarily “oppositional” so as to give rise to an opposition-clause...more
11/29/2018
/ Best Practices ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
First Impression ,
Protected Activity ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Title VII
Title VII requires employers to make “reasonable accommodations” for an employee’s religious practices. But what is “reasonable” has been the subject of much debate and litigation. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on behalf of a nursing home employee alleging she was forced to receive a flu shot to keep her job when she could not provide a note from a clergy member in support...more
3/15/2018
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Flu Shot Rule ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Tenth Circuit has recently vacated summary judgment in favor of an employer in a religious accommodation case that centers on what constitutes a “reasonable” accommodation of an employee’s observance of...more
2/22/2018
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Kellogg Company ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reasonableness Factors ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Summary Judgment ,
Vacated ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
Seyfarth Synopsis: Telling African-American employees “that if they had ‘n—– rigged’ the fence, they would be fired” may be enough, standing alone, to state a hostile work environment claim....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A recent decision by a federal district court in Minnesota held that a religious accommodation request is not “protected activity” under Title VII. In defending retaliation litigation, employers should...more
7/20/2017
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Protected Activity ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Title VII ,
Work Schedules
Seyfarth Synopsis: In EEOC v. Consol Energy, Inc., the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a judgment against an employer for failing to accommodate an employee’s religious belief that a biometric hand scanner would tag...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Anti-Muslim rhetoric dominates many media headlines. A May 9, 2017 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit highlights the risks to an employer when anti-Muslim rhetoric enters the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a recent federal case the employer has challenged the EEOC Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation taking the position that a religious accommodation request does not meet the test for protected activity...more
In the wake of Paris and San Bernandino, the EEOC has issued new “Questions and Answers” for employers concerning workers who are, or are perceived to be, Muslim or Middle Eastern. The agency issued companion questions and...more