As we enter the 3rd year of the #MeToo movement, all signs point towards another year of heightened legal activities in the area of gender discrimination and gender equality. Sexual harassment claims will continue to garner news headlines, but there are bigger threats for employers. For many employers, 2019 will be less about whether their … Continue Reading
Article written for Law360, published on February 6, 2019. In the past few months, we have seen three different cases of religious accommodation claims, with three very different results. In case one, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission failure-to-hire case, on very narrow … Continue Reading
This is not the first time you’ve heard from us about flu shots in the workplace (see our January 25, 2018 post). And here we are again. Each flu season, employers find themselves in the hot seat when well-intentioned attempts to implement a policy backfire. This year is no exception. On September 28, the Equal … Continue Reading
Last week, the EEOC released preliminary data on sexual harassment claims for its 2018 fiscal year. The report (not surprisingly) shows an eye-popping rise in sexual harassment claims and enforcement activity – a trend acting EEOC chair Victoria Lipnic anticipates will continue for a while. Even for employers not affected by New York and New … Continue Reading
Recent filings show healthcare employers remain susceptible to religious discrimination claims. In August, the EEOC filed suit against Hackensack Meridian Health (“Hackensack”), a New Jersey healthcare network, alleging an employee was harassed due to religion. According to the complaint, Hackensack hired Jojy Cheriyan in August 2015 to perform clinical informatics work. The EEOC alleges that … Continue Reading
Anti-harassment policies are nothing new and we would be shocked to find an employee handbook without one. But, have they really worked? In the #MeToo era, it has become clear that these policies have not really been effective and employers are facing increasing scrutiny over why they cannot prevent harassment, and how they handle claims … Continue Reading
In the past two weeks, we saw two major decisions in the area of LGBTQ rights in the workplace. First, the Second Circuit in New York held that Title VII does prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., No. 15-3775, 2018 WL 1040820 (2d Cir. Feb. 26, 2018). In Zarda, the … Continue Reading
Earlier, we blogged about James Damore, an engineer at Google who was terminated for his memo, which openly expressed his belief that women were not “biologically suited” for certain types of positions and criticism of the company’s efforts to diversify its work force. The engineer challenged his termination by filing a charge with the National … Continue Reading
This year flu season came early and with a vengeance. As we mentioned in our October post, The Rise of Employee Religious Discrimination Claims, mandatory flu vaccines present a common pitfall for employers. As employers seek to avoid flu outbreaks in the workplace, they may unknowingly head toward a flu case in the courtroom. Issues … Continue Reading
As January draws to a close, New York employers are confronting the reality of many new laws and regulations that govern the employment relationship – from the new Paid Family Leave law, to the new federal tax law. We are also tracking several newly-signed and proposed pieces of legislation, which could further complicate the employment … Continue Reading
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin and religion. While the first four categories often dominate the news headlines and court dockets, the fifth category — religion — should not be underestimated. Possibly due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2015 Abercrombie decision — a religious … Continue Reading
As many of us settle into September, with fond memories of our summer vacations, do not think that the federal agencies were on a hiatus. In fact and despite predictions that the EEOC under the new administration would be less aggressive in enforcing the discrimination laws, the Commission has been very active and did not … Continue Reading
When Trump was a brand-new President (or force of nature, depending on how you look at it), we observed that the dawn of his administration would not necessarily augur wholesale changes to the overall landscape of legal concerns for employers. Why? Because, as with so many things in Trumpworld, there didn’t appear to be a … Continue Reading
The blogs and networks have been buzzing over the past few days with news that a senior software engineer at Google – James Damore – had taken it upon himself to write and post on an internal Google mailing list a ten page memo, explaining his theory on why Google’s efforts to diversify its workforce … Continue Reading
The Second Circuit has announced that it is scheduling en banc review and has asked the EEOC to weigh in on the controversial question of whether Title VII covers discrimination on sexual orientation. The court has invited the EEOC to brief and participate in oral argument in the case of Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc. … Continue Reading
On Monday, the Supreme Court held that appellate courts must utilize the deferential “abuse-of-discretion” standard when evaluating a ruling on a subpoena issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This ruling came in response to a Ninth Circuit decision wherein the circuit court reviewed a … Continue Reading
In May 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) published “Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act” The EEOC published the guidance as it observed a “troubling trend:” employment policies that deny or restrict leave as a reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities. It has been a year since this guidance was published and … Continue Reading
Are we getting a mixed message from the new administration on priorities in the civil rights area? In her first public comments since her appointment as the new acting chair of the EEOC, Victoria Lipnic just last week (February 8) said that the agency will not be making major changes and “is committed to its … Continue Reading
Your colleagues are on social media. Ninety-seven percent of online adults aged 16-64 say they have visited or used a social network within the last month.[1] Because social media continues to grow and constantly evolves, employers need to take a proactive approach to reduce risk and exposure to litigation related to social media. In recent … Continue Reading
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the nation’s largest consumer interest group for Americans over 50, is suing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over its new wellness program rules, which the AARP alleges violates rules protecting the confidentiality of medical information. The new rules were issued in May but do not take effect … Continue Reading
Following up on a post from last week on the issue of mandatory flu vaccine policies, the EEOC seems to be on a march to challenge any employer – particularly hospitals – that denies an employee a requested exemption from a mandatory flu shot for religious reasons. Last week the EEOC sued Saint Vincent Health … Continue Reading
Fall is in the air – when the air becomes crisp, our thoughts turn to Halloween, turkey and — thanks to constant reminders — and our annual flu vaccine. Many health care facilities have implemented policies which require employees to be vaccinated. There are many reasons why this is a good practice, particularly for employees … Continue Reading
Unlike many of us, the courts were not on vacation during the month of August in the area of LGBTQ law. We have seen a number of rulings which seem to signal that the courts are trying to “slow down” the EEOC and other federal agencies as they pursue their stated goal of advancing the … Continue Reading
In a precedent-setting decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled on July 28th that Title VII does not protect against sexual orientation discrimination. The case is Kimberly Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, No. 15‐1720 (7th Cir. July 28, 2016). The 7th Circuit upheld a district court’s decision to dismiss a … Continue Reading
