We asked attorneys writing on JD Supra to share with us their initial thoughts on the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell decision in favor of same-sex marriage equaliy, especially with the regard to the...more
6/26/2015
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Discrimination ,
DOMA ,
First Glance ,
Marriage Equality ,
Obergefell v. Hodges ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
US v Windsor ,
Young Lawyers
First Glance perspective by attorney Robin Shea of the Supreme Court's recent Religious Accommodation decision in EEOC v. Abercrombie. Spoiler alert: more alarming than it sounds....more
6/2/2015
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Discrimination ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
First Glance ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Popular ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII
Many employers — particularly, those in the transportation industry — use third party vendors to do the random selections for federally mandated drug and alcohol tests. I think it’s a great idea, because it prevents employees...more
The EEOC began use of a new “Digital Charge” pilot program last Friday in the Charlotte, North Carolina, and San Francisco, California, field offices for employment discrimination charges filed against non-federal employers....more
It’s been a while since we’ve had an employment law quiz, so let’s do it! This one is on retaliation. As always, the answers will be provided after each question — you have our “no-pressure” guarantee....more
3/16/2015
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Burden of Proof ,
Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Free Speech ,
NLRA ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
Title VII
I was disappointed earlier this week to see a consultant quoted in an otherwise good article in the Wall Street Journal – “Employee Theft Often Leads Small Firms to Make Bad Choices” — as advising the “bogus RIF” strategy...more
Oh, you better watch out! A lot of employers have been naughty. I checked the court dockets, and would you believe all of these employment lawsuits filed in the week before Christmas! ...more
When I do harassment training, I ask my audiences whether they think employers should ban the “N” word even when it’s used by African-Americans among themselves. In my experience, the African-Americans in the audience have...more
Everybody knows that an employer should never, ever, ever ask an applicant about religion or disability until after a conditional offer of employment has been made. And maybe not even then. Right?...more
10/6/2014
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Screening Procedures
Bloomberg BNA reports this afternoon that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed two transgender discrimination lawsuits yesterday, the agency’s first ever against private-sector employers. One is against a...more
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has issued a new directive on gender-identity discrimination, consistent with President Obama’s recent amendment to Executive Order 11246. ...more
Homo sapiens is fired for teaching about homophones (and his sister is a known thespian rumored to have dramaturgical aspirations). A teacher at a private language school in Utah says that he was fired by the director for...more
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is dead again, so there isn’t a federal law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Is there any federal law on same-sex harassment or discrimination? If so, what is it?...more
More than two years after expressly declining to do so, this past Monday, President Obama signed an Executive Order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation or...more
This morning President Obama signed an Executive Order amending the 1965 Executive Order 11246. President Obama’s EO prohibits discrimination and requires affirmative action by federal contractors based on sexual orientation...more
I plan to write more about this later in the week, but today the EEOC issued an Enforcement Guidance, Q&A, and Fact Sheet on pregnancy discrimination and accommodation. Much of the Guidance reiterated the law as we had always...more
I thought only elephants had two-year pregnancies. As I’ve discussed here before, “pregnancy” for purposes of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act includes a lot of things besides the actual nine months of physical...more
A reader, who has asked to remain anonymous, suggested that I write about employees who make “stupid” complaints about discrimination, harassment, or other allegedly unlawful treatment.
The following is a fictionalized...more
Is this new UPS pregnancy discrimination decision really such great news for employers?
HINT: Check the dates!!!
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit* held this week that there is no "reasonable...more
Happy new year, everybody! Although I've been on vacation, the news never sleeps, and the Mayans were wrong. Accordingly, I have a few items to catch you up on....more
1/3/2013
/ Breastfeeding ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Discrimination ,
Email ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Marital Communications Privilege ,
Melissa Nelson ,
Nelson v Knight ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Termination