Our June update includes a new gender critical philosophical belief case exploring some new areas (such as the nature of the workplace), a case on redaction of disclosure documents and whether the redacted material was...more
The Utah legislature wrapped up its seven-week legislative session on March 1, 2024. In addition to passing a #MeToo-inspired law prohibiting confidentiality clauses regarding sexual misconduct, the legislature also passed...more
Employers may need to update their harassment-prevention policies, procedures, and trainings now that the federal government released long-anticipated guidance on the topic. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s...more
How can I support my Muslim colleagues who are fasting during Ramadan? Is it OK to ask them questions? Working with Muslim colleagues over the years, I have been inspired by the discipline and resilience of those who fast...more
After a 3-2 vote along political party lines, the EEOC recently voted to publish its Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, which remains open to public comment until November 1, 2023. When the current...more
The EEOC recently published its long-awaited proposal to update the agency’s Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, the first update to this crucial document in over 30 years. The proposed guidance, released on...more
It's worth a read. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently released a proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, and it's quite good. Don't let the length intimidate you. If you aren't an...more
In recent weeks, New York enacted various employment laws that provide additional protections for New York employees. After reviewing the below, which summarizes the new laws in descending order of effective date, employers...more
Question: Do employers need to provide a space for employees to worship and/or pray in the office? Answer: The short answer is: Maybe. Employers must reasonably accommodate employees’ sincerely held religious, ethical,...more
Public school districts across the country face an October 1 deadline to certify they do not prevent constitutionally protected prayer — or else they could lose federal funding. The certification is an annual exercise,...more
In May 2023, the Department of Education issued guidance on the current state of the law regarding constitutionally protected prayer and religious expression in public schools. Last updated in 2020, the guidance incorporates...more
On March 1, 2023 a precedential panel decision was issued in Rogowski v. Kirven. They are the parents of O.K. who is nine years old. The couple divorced in 2018 and mom remarried. From 2018 until August 2020 they shared week...more
Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 U.S. __ (2022) (The United States Supreme Court concludes that a coach praying at mid-field following a high school football game was engaged in private religious expression...more
Employers Should Reevaluate Policies on Religious Expression at Work in Light of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and Carson v. Makin - With the commencement of school, public youth programs and 2022-23 budget cycles,...more
Dear Littler: I’m an HR representative at an advertising agency based in New York City. We have a question about a religiously vocal employee. Recently she has made her opinions on homosexuality known to her entire...more
The Supreme Court ruled in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District on June 27, 2022 that a public high school violated the Constitution by restricting a football coach from engaging in “personal” but overt post-game, mid-field...more
The Supreme Court addressed the intersection of the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Speech clauses as they relate to a public employee’s personal religious expression when done in the public eye. In a 6-to-3...more
A school district infringed on an assistant football coach’s rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment when it suspended him for continuing to publicly pray after football games in violation of its policy,...more
The widely reported Supreme Court case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, No. 21-418 (S. Ct. June 27, 2022) warrants all the attention it has been getting. The Court’s penalty flag against the local Washington school...more
Joseph Kennedy coached football at Bremerton High School, a public school in Washington State. After football games, Kennedy led prayers at the 50-yard line among players, coaches, fans, and, sometimes, politicians. The...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has held in favor of a former high school football coach in western Washington who lost his job after kneeling to pray on the 50-yard line after games. Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist., No. 21–418...more
On Monday June 27, the Supreme Court issued their ruling in the case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. (We previously reported on this case.) In a 6-3 decision penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the conservative majority...more
Coming off the decisions in the landmark Dobbs and Bruen cases, the rest of the term might seem anticlimactic. Nevertheless, as the shelf is being cleared of the remaining cases, there are still rulings of significance to...more
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a blockbuster school prayer decision Monday in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. The case involved a public high school football coach who was fired for praying on the field after each game,...more
On June 27, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, No. 21-418, holding that a football coach’s quiet prayers of thanks after three football games were protected under the Free Exercise and...more