Labor & Employment Law: Vermont and Federal Legislative Update
#WorkforceWednesday: SCOTUS Decision on LGBTQ Employees, EEOC on Older Workers Returning to Work - Employment Law This Week®
In its 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits covered employers from discriminating against employees based on their...more
As the temperatures continue to rise, regulations and litigation related to employer-sponsored group health plans have followed suit. As these new rules continue to evolve, we are often asked whether a self-insured group...more
Federal employment protections for LGBTQ+ individuals have greatly expanded over the past four years. While the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) remains committed to preventing workplace discrimination...more
Monday, May 13, 2024: Coalition of 18 Republican States’ Attorney Generals Filed Suit to Challenge EEOC’s Harassment Guidance - A coalition of 18 Republican state attorney generals (“AGs”), led by Tennessee Attorney...more
“The rock and the hard place.” How often do employers find themselves here? If employers have LGBTQ employees in certain states, they are now bumping up against the “rock” of federal laws, like Title VII and Title IX, and the...more
If an employer or coworker persistently uses a transgender worker’s wrong name or identified pronoun, can that constitute a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII? In Copeland v. Georgia Department of Corrections,...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) hopped on the bandwagon of employment law updates this week by updating its guidance to prevent workplace harassment. This guidance focuses on protecting covered employees...more
On April 19, 2024, the Biden Administration released its long-awaited overhaul of the Title IX regulations governing investigations of alleged sexual misconduct and sex discrimination in federally-funded education programs....more
What's good for the goose . . . A person who is discriminated against for not being transgender can have a valid claim under Title VII for “sex” (really, gender identity) discrimination. In McCreary v. Adult World, Inc., a...more
Late last week the Connecticut State Department of Education (“CSDE” or “Department”) issued new guidance addressing the rights of transgender students in Connecticut schools. Entitled Guidance on Civil Rights Protections...more
A recent Statement of Interest filed earlier this week by the Department of Justice in a federal prisoner lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia should serve as an important reminder...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published draft enforcement guidance regarding workplace harassment, entitled “Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace.” The proposed guidance sets...more
On July 31, 2023, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals revived a Christian teacher’s religious discrimination lawsuit over his refusal to refer to transgender students by their names and pronouns with which they identified. ...more
Transgender protections and rights in the workplace are currently the subject of much confusion. This issue extends to employer-sponsored health plans. Whether an employer-sponsored health plan must cover gender-affirming...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 15, 2023, the EEOC issued a message from its Chair, Charlotte A. Burrows, for Pride Month that, among other things, highlighted the continuing impact of the Supreme Court’s seminal decision in...more
Employers should review their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and anti-discrimination policies as federal and state laws protecting transgender workers continue to take shape. Earlier this month, the Equal Employment...more
As employers strive to create inclusive and compliant workplaces, you should note that using an employee’s requested pronouns not only conveys respect but also helps you stay in compliance with anti-discrimination laws. In...more
This Insights blog addresses the aftermath of the monumental U.S. Supreme Court opinion of Bostock v. Clayton County, 140 S.Ct. 1731 (June 15, 2020) and the ongoing collision of the right to religious freedom enjoyed by...more
As we discussed in our previous blog post, in 2021 the EEOC issued a technical assistance guidance addressing employers’ obligations under Bostock v. Clayton County, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 landmark decision holding...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The EEOC published guidance to provide clarity on its interpretation of Title VII protections for LGBTQ+ employees in the wake of the landmark case Bostock v. Clayton County, GA. A recent decision by a...more
Employers are facing increasing - and conflicting - pressures over health plan coverage of puberty-blocking medications used to treat some minors for gender dysphoria. Several states have restricted the use of...more
Compassion can be a wonderful tool in many of the things we do in Human Resources and the labor and employment legal world. It’s also a great starting point when an employee walks into an HR or supervisor’s office to say...more
On August 16, 2022, a Fourth Circuit panel for the United States Court of Appeals ruled in Williams v. Kincaid that gender dysphoria qualifies as one of the disabilities listed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)....more
Last summer, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued guidance for employers addressing — among other things — bathroom use and pronouns for transgender workers. A federal court has now blocked the EEOC from...more
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County,140 S. Ct. 1731, 1754 (2020) that expanded the prohibition against sex discrimination under Title VII (“Title VII”) of the Civil Rights Act to include discrimination on...more