The Supreme Court’s June 5, 2025 decision to revive a heterosexual woman’s discrimination suit on the basis of sexual orientation against her employer could open a floodgate of future litigation. In a unanimous ruling...more
In the first week of the Trump administration, along with a flurry of executive orders, the President appointed Andrea Lucas as the Acting Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). Within days, he...more
Join Kelley Drye for an insightful webinar, "Trump Reframes the EEO Agenda: What Does It Mean for Your Business?" This session will explore the impact of the Trump administration’s new direction on DEI, gender identity,...more
1/27/2025
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
EEO ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration ,
Webinars
Less than 24 hours after assuming the presidency, Donald Trump announced significant changes in the leadership and focus of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), as well as other policy changes which will...more
1/23/2025
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Deregulation ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Protection ,
Executive Orders ,
Labor Reform ,
LGBTQ ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
On June 29, 2023, amid a flurry of other newsworthy opinions, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Groff v. DeJoy, modifying the legal standard which courts now must use to determine when an employer has to grant a...more
7/13/2023
/ Civil Rights Act ,
De Minimus Doctrine ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Substantial Burden ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
USPS
2023 is in full swing. While everyone is abuzz about ChatGPT taking over the world, a newly divided Congress is finding its sea legs and state capitols are eyeing new regulations. Agencies and courts have taken up hot-button...more
4/3/2023
/ Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Pay Transparency ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Wage and Hour
In a move that comes as no surprise, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has updated its COVID-19 technical assistance to provide guidance on when COVID-19 may be considered a “disability” under the Americans...more
UPDATE: December 17, 2021 -
In a move that comes as no surprise, the EEOC has updated its COVID-19 technical assistance to provide guidance on when COVID-19 may be considered a “disability” under the ADA, making specific...more
In a one-line ruling on Monday, December 13, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the last of the legal challenges to the vaccine mandate for health care workers in New York. It also dismissed a challenge to a similar...more
Employers have been waiting for some definitive guidance from the EEOC on the issue of vaccines in the workplace – and here it is! On May 28, the EEOC updated its Technical Assistance Guidance and has now stated with...more
6/3/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The EEOC recently released its Enforcement and Litigation Data for Fiscal Year 2020, which ran from September 2019 to September 30, 2020—6 months before (September 2019 – March 2020) and 6 months during the COVID-19 pandemic...more
On the heels of the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, the EEOC updated its Technical Assistance Q & A to help employers navigate the latest pandemic related challenges. ...more
12/24/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The EEOC again updated its Technical Assistance Questions and Answers (Q&A), which we have been following closely, and previously covered on June 11, 2020.
In its most recent update, the EEOC addressed specific questions...more
Yesterday the EEOC updated its Technical Assistance Questions and Answers (Q&A), “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws.”...more
As businesses all over the country prepare to open up and welcome employees back to work – even while the pandemic rages on – there remains a high degree of uncertainty concerning how to keep employees safe, especially those...more
With the reopening of state economies and return-to-work on the horizon, on April 23, 2020, the EEOC issued new guidance on workplace testing for COVID-19.
The EEOC’s guidance confirms that “employers may choose to...more
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...more
This is not the first time you’ve heard from us about flu shots in the workplace. And here we are again. Each flu season, employers find themselves in the hot seat when well-intentioned attempts to implement a policy...more
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...more
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...more
Anti-harassment policies are nothing new and we would be shocked to find an employee handbook without one.
But, have they really worked?...more
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....more
3/16/2018
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
LGBTQ ,
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
Last week the EEOC released its annual report breaking down charges received during the fiscal year. In fiscal year 2017, the agency received 84,254 charges and took in $398 million between voluntary resolutions and...more
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...more
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...more