Within weeks of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions last year, Republican attorneys general for 13 states sent a letter to Fortune 100 CEOs condemning their DEI initiatives in...more
The U. S. Supreme Court has clarified that a plaintiff must show harm in addition to improper discriminatory intent when bringing a change-of-terms-or-conditions-of-employment claim under Title VII’s anti-discrimination...more
Earlier this month, The Walt Disney Company (“Disney”) became the latest company to face simultaneous allegations that they discriminate both against and in favor of women. On February 14, 2024, America First Legal Foundation...more
The California Supreme Court has determined that trial courts lack the authority to strike claims brought under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) on the grounds that trying them would be unmanageable....more
In June of 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on the use of affirmative action in higher education admission, leading to increased confusion among employers on how to create and implement legally compliant...more
8/24/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
College Admissions ,
Diversity ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Webinars
On September 24, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force issued guidance on President Biden’s Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors. The Task Force guidance provides details...more
Employers face increasing demands and pressure to ensure and declare equitable pay for employees, not only from within their own workforces, but also from clients, customers, and government leaders. While states continue...more
California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) has issued new guidance on the pay data reporting law enacted in September that established at the state level the equivalent of the EEOC’s discontinued EEO-1...more
Employers’ obligation to provide safe workplaces for employees is hardly new. The current COVID-19 pandemic, however, has forced health and safety at work to be top-of-mind across U.S. industries in ways not previously...more
In yet another development in the closely watched case of Rizo v. Yovino, the en banc Ninth Circuit ruled that employers may not defeat a plaintiff’s prima facie case under the Equal Pay Act (EPA) by arguing prior pay is a...more
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan ruled that the EEOC may not discontinue its pay data collection efforts on November 11, 2019, but rather, must continue its collection efforts until it has collected from...more
Last week, the EEOC announced that it does not intend to renew its request for authorization to collect employers’ pay data on the EEO-1 form in future years. The announcement comes less than three weeks before the September...more
9/16/2019
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
The EEOC has been no stranger to headlines in recent months, particularly on the issue of equal pay. As we recently reported, the EEOC’s long-dormant pay data collection rule, revived by the D.C. District Court in March, has...more
6/25/2019
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay Transparency ,
Sex Discrimination ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
The EEOC has been ordered to collect employers’ EEO-1 Component 2 pay data by September 30, 2019. The D.C. District Court issued the order after finding back in March 2019 that Office of Management and Budget (OMB’s)...more
Echoing an increasingly familiar refrain, another district court has declined to certify a class of women bringing pay equity claims on the basis that they did not present a common question capable of producing a common...more
As we reported last month, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) issued proposed regulations interpreting the provisions of the new Oregon Equal Pay Act of 2017, which will become effective January 1, 2019....more
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) has issued proposed regulations interpreting the provisions of the new Oregon Equal Pay Act of 2017, which will become effective January 1, 2019. ...more
11/6/2018
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
LGBTQ ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Protected Class ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Transgender ,
Wage and Hour
On August 28, 2018, a judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court issued one of the first decisions – if not the first decision – on a motion to certify a putative class action under the state’s revised Equal Pay Act, Cal....more
9/28/2018
/ Anthem Blue Cross ,
Class Certification ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Expert Testimony ,
FEHA ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Job Promotions ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Putative Class Actions ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On August 28, 2018, a judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court issued one of the first decisions – if not the first decision – on a motion to certify a putative class action under the state’s revised Equal Pay Act, Cal....more
The California Pay Equity Task Force recently published guidance and approved resources for employer compliance with the state’s equal-pay laws. ...more
9/24/2018
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Fair Pay Act ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
New Guidance ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Sex Discrimination ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
In a highly anticipated move, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued its new compensation directive on August 24, 2018. ...more
Last year, we covered a Ninth Circuit panel decision which concluded that an employer may rely on prior salary information as an affirmative defense to claims under the federal Equal Pay Act (“EPA”) if “it show[s] that the...more
On March 21, 2018, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law amendments to Washington State’s Equal Pay Act, which had not been updated since 1943. ...more
3/30/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay Transparency ,
Sex Discrimination ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
In the last several weeks, allegations of rampant sexual harassment have shocked the collective conscience. With the assistance of social media, what started as an allegation against a Hollywood mogul snowballed into a...more
Three months after the California Fair Pay Act took effect on January 1, 2016, the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (“DLSE”) has issued answers to FAQs about the new law, which by all counts is the most...more