HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
Podcast - Data Privacy and Tracking Technology Compliance
Patient Data and Privacy
2022 DSIR Deeper Dive: OCR’s Right of Access Initiative
HIPAA Tips With Williams Mullen - Telehealth After the Pandemic
Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Webinar: Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus
Many K-12 and institutes of higher education are concerned about the potential threat to their federal funding given recent changes to the way the government is interpreting existing federal law to achieve certain policy...more
As a quick update for our education clients, the Biden administration purportedly plans to delay the release date of the Title IX final rule on transgender athletes until after the presidential election. While the Department...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
In a July 28, 2023 ruling, the Seventh Circuit has signaled that Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) seeking to enforce pronoun policies can expect to face increased scrutiny. Specifically, the Seventh Circuit vacated its...more
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published on April 6, 2023, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) about sex-related criteria used to limit or deny a student's ability to participate in...more
The federal Department of Education released a notice of proposed rulemaking earlier this month addressing gender identity and participation in athletics. ...more
On April 6, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released its much-anticipated proposed Title IX rule on the eligibility of students for participation in athletic programs based on their gender identity....more
The participation of transgender athletes in youth, interscholastic, and elite sport has long been a highly charged political issue domestically and internationally, with a vast range of different approaches to regulating...more
Recent court and OCR decisions regarding transgender students and employees reflect widely varying responses to the Biden administration’s efforts to expand protections for LGBTQ+ individuals under federal law, including...more
Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued new, anticipated guidance concerning the Department’s current regulations related to sexual harassment. The guidance, titled Questions and...more
On June 22, 2021, the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) and the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division (“DOJ) issued a joint Fact Sheet addressed to elementary and secondary...more
In a somewhat unsurprising development, the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights [OCR] has issued a new interpretation of Title IX, recognizing that it prohibits discrimination on the basis of...more
[Warning: This article does not reference viruses, vaccines, or mask-wearing.] The education world is in a state of flux, legally speaking. Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court will further opine on the extent to which the...more
In This Issue: Biden administration releases FY22 budget proposal, Senate follows House with return of earmarks, Department of Education higher education regulatory agenda, Title IX rule hearing, state legislatures update and...more
Summary - The Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Education (DOE) made back-to-back announcements regarding the implementation and application of Title IX. On April...more
On September 8, 2020, an Education Dive article quoted me about two recent letters from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on the impact on Title IX of this year’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court...more
In a seismic decision that could wreak havoc with Connecticut school districts, OCR has determined that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference [CIAC] policy on transgender athletes violates Title IX of the...more
It seems like all we talk about these days in the Title IX world is sexual harassment, as we scramble to implement new Title IX regulations that go into effect in August. Yet, this week brought significant news with respect...more
When the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion several weeks ago upholding a public school district’s policy allowing transgender students to use facilities that match their gender identity, it was just the latest...more
Changing course on complaints involving transgender students, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently issued new field instructions to its regional staff excluding discrimination claims based...more
In May 2016, the Obama Administration’s U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague letter directing schools to recognize and treat...more
Many higher education institutions are well-versed in Title IX compliance and litigation issues as they relate to gender discrimination claims on account of university conduct, or claims arising out of sexual assaults on...more
In a move that made headlines across the country, two federal government agencies issued a significant guidance document last week interpreting Title IX's requirements for protecting transgender students' rights....more
Two divisions of the federal government have weighed in on the recent legal controversies surrounding accommodations for transgender students. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S....more
A majority panel of three judges in GG v Gloucester County School Board, U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Cir. Case No. 15-2056 (April 19, 2016), reversed a federal trial court's decision, endorsed the Office of Civil Rights'...more