DE Under 3: EEOC Consent Decree Illustrated Enforcement Stance Regarding Natural Hair Texture & Race Discrimination
Illegal or ill-mannered? Title VII meets Ms. Manners
Employment Law Now: Volume 3 Episode 45- Part 1 of 2 Back From The Summer Hiatus
Maine recently wrapped a busy 2023 legislative session that brought several significant legal changes relevant for employers. Those changes include increasing the cap on damages for violations of the Maine Human Rights Act...more
Governor Greg Abbott recently signed House Bill No. 567, also known as the CROWN Act, into law. Following the bill’s enactment on September 1, 2023, Texas law will prohibit race-based hair discrimination in employment,...more
Michigan is the latest state to expand its legal definition of race as a protected class to include hairstyle descriptors. As we recently explained, legislation with the acronym for “Creating a Respectful and Open Work for...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Natural hairstyles have become increasingly popular among Black Americans of both sexes. Despite their popularity, these hairstyles have been overregulated frequently in the workplace. To address this...more
The 2023 Minnesota legislative session, which ended May 22, was chock-full of critical employment law developments that will have immediate and ongoing impacts for employers in Minnesota on a variety of fronts, including paid...more
The New York City Council has passed a bill amending the City’s anti-discrimination statute (the New York City Human Rights Law or “NYCHRL”) to prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of an individual’s “height”...more
Minnesota has now joined at least 19 other states in enacting a CROWN Act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” The Act, which in Minnesota has come in the form of brief but important...more
Illinois employers will face a host of new requirements in 2023. Below are updates and reminders regarding certain aspects of the new labor and employment landscape in Illinois....more
As the new year rolls in, Illinois employers should take note of new laws that went into effect on January 1, 2023. First, Illinois has expanded and renamed the former Child Bereavement Leave Act, which is now called the...more
Work Authorization Status - On August 2, 2021, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law Public Act 102-0233, which adds work authorization status to the list of protected classifications in Illinois. Effective immediately,...more
As employers know, they must keep an eye on the ever-changing landscape of employment discrimination laws. One of the more recent developments in this arena is the passage of laws banning discrimination based on hairstyles or...more
On October 1, 2020, the Kansas City, Missouri City Council unanimously voted to enact the “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair” Act (“CROWN Act”). The CROWN Act addresses discrimination based on natural...more
Effective July 23, 2020, Suffolk County, New York amended its Human Rights Law to ban race and religious discrimination based on hairstyle, hair texture, and religious garments as components of “group identity” under the...more
Virginia has substantially rewritten its employment laws to provide a number of new protections and rights to employees in the areas of employment discrimination, whistleblower protection, non-compete agreements, independent...more
On March 3, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed into law HB 1514, which amends the Virginia Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of hairstyles. Specifically, the bill amends the definition of...more
With the Oscar win for best animated short film, Hair Love shone a spotlight on California’s CROWN Act (Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair), which prohibits discrimination based on natural hairstyles and...more
Is it just me, or has JLo and Shakira’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl received more attention than the game itself? As with so many other issues these days, we are a country divided. Some believe the performance was...more
With the start of the new year, California’s new law prohibiting hair discrimination has taken effect. Although California was the first state to prohibit discrimination on the basis of hair, similar legislation is appearing...more
I am an HR manager for a boutique beauty supply shop based in Atlanta, Georgia. We are planning to expand into new storefronts in both San Diego, California and Brooklyn, New York. We have a standard grooming policy because...more
Q: I heard New York prohibits employers from discriminating based on hairstyle. What does that mean? A: In July 2019, New York State passed legislation that amended the definition of race under the New York State Human...more
In September 2019, the New Jersey Division of Rights (“DCR”) issued enforcement guidance (“Guidance”) clarifying and explaining how the DCR applies the state’s Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”) to discrimination based on...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights recently released guidance clarifying that existing anti-discrimination laws prohibit employers from taking adverse employment actions or applying a grooming policy...more
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed legislation amending state law to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on hair texture or protective hairstyles as race-based discrimination. The new law took effect...more
Adding to an already busy summer of New York state employment law developments, employers and human resources professionals should take note of an amendment to the state’s Human Rights Law that adds protections for employees...more