On January 11, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted an appeal of a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision dealing with the administrative prerequisites for a plaintiff to file suit against an employer under Title VII and related...more
1/25/2019
/ Administrative Procedure ,
Appeals ,
Certiorari ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exhaustion Doctrine ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Fort Bend County Texas v Davis ,
Jurisdiction ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Title VII
Job-protected leave continues to be the most common accommodation requested by employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act. For employers, the question remains at what point does the amount of work missed end the...more
Employer wellness plans have attracted multiple legal challenges ranging from HIPAA concerns to allegations that such programs violate federal civil rights under GINA and the ADA. Adding to this confusion, the Equal...more
When training interviewers on legal compliance in hiring, employers often coach their employees to avoid phrases that can be interpreted as referring to the applicant’s age. For example, the EEOC sometimes views claims that...more
In recent years, federal courts have increasingly been called upon to decide whether employers must provide accommodations relating to disabled employees’ commutes to and from work. The EEOC and some federal courts have...more
Many health care employers require employees with patient contact to obtain various vaccinations as a condition of employment. Occasionally, employees or applicants will decline the vaccines and request an exemption based on...more
When a current employee files an EEOC charge or other legal claim against his or her employer, the company sometimes learns that the employee has been taking company documents and providing them to persons outside the...more
Earlier this year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission persuaded the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that a funeral home’s termination of a transgender employee violated Title VII’s prohibition against sex...more
11/5/2018
/ Appeals ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration
Clients sometimes ask us if we are seeing an increase in the number of sexual harassment claims filed since the initiation of the #MeToo movement. Our typical answer has been “Not really, but wait.” Earlier this month, the...more
In the hospitality industry, it is fairly common for a hotel to retain a management company to run housekeeping, food and beverage, and other functions. While the management company may supervise and direct the work of hotel...more
10/1/2018
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotel Management Agreements ,
Hotels ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title VII
In 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued an Enforcement Guidance dealing with employer use of criminal background checks in the hiring process. The agency concluded that widespread use of such checks...more
The Americans with Disabilities Act sets forth the conditions under which employers can require medical examinations as a condition of hire. Last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employer violated the...more
9/12/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Medical Examinations ,
Screening Procedures
Plaintiffs who want to file lawsuits alleging discrimination under federal civil rights laws such as Title VII must first file an administrative charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before proceeding to...more
Over the past month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a series of lawsuits targeting alleged harassment and retaliation situations. The EEOC has filed the suits in coordinated waves, spread out in...more
On occasion, we read case reports that make us wonder why an employer litigates a claim that appears to be based on rigid adherence to work rules that do not make a whole lot of sense. A recent example is a decision from the...more
Employers naturally have concerns over employee use of prescription or over-the-counter medications that could affect safe or effective performance of job duties. However, the Americans with Disabilities Act restricts...more
Sometimes when an employee returns from medical leave and presents a doctor’s clearance, the employer has serious questions about the employee’s actual ability to safely and effectively perform the job. A recent unpublished...more
Earlier this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced separate settlements with CVS Caremark Corporation and Best Buy based on the companies’ use of personality assessments during the application process....more
In practice, employers have little difficulty accommodating most requests for accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If an employee requests a standing desk or short breaks to monitor blood glucose,...more
On the heels of last week’s Second Circuit decision finding sexual orientation discrimination prohibited under Title VII, on Wednesday, a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel held that Title VII likewise protects transgender...more
In a major decision, the full Second Circuit Court of Appeals became the second federal appellate circuit to conclude that Title VII’s prohibitions against sex discrimination also apply to discrimination and harassment claims...more
Title VII requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for employees’ religious beliefs and practices. While this accommodation obligation may not be as high as that imposed for disabilities under the ADA, a recent...more
In 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted regulations that limit the amount of incentives employers can provide employees to participate in wellness programs under the companies’ group medical insurance...more
1/8/2018
/ AARP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Incentives ,
Wellness Programs
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits race discrimination in employment, but it does not define what race means. Over the past decade, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has shifted its definition of...more
Despite the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s more nuanced position, federal courts have generally rejected attempts by plaintiffs to claim that an indefinite leave of absence is a required reasonable accommodation...more