Hindsight is 20-20.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which took effect in June 2023, requires reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and “related medical conditions.” The statute gave authority to the U.S....more
8/1/2025
/ Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Wage and Hour
Accommodate, accommodate, accommodate!
I started practicing law two years before Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), and four years before it took effect (1992 for larger employers, 1994 for smaller...more
7/18/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discrimination ,
Documentation ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Forced Leave of Absences ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Retaliation ,
Wage and Hour
Don't expect the EEOC to appeal.
In April 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. The Enforcement Guidance addressed, among other things, harassment...more
5/23/2025
/ Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
LGBTQ ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration ,
Trump v Wilcox
TL;DR: Some big changes.
On Tuesday, the Trump Administration nominated Brittany Bull Panuccio to the spot on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that has been vacant since Keith Sonderling’s term expired last...more
5/9/2025
/ Biden Administration ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Gender Identity ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Quorum ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Title IX ,
Trump Administration
Is the media buzz accurate?
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump issued a new executive order, "Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy." The buzz is that the President has wiped out disparate impact...more
Then again, you might.
Jocelyn Samuels was initially appointed to be a Commissioner on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by President Trump, and then she was reappointed by President Biden. Not long after...more
From the feds. This week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice issued technical assistance materials on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, including one document titled...more
3/21/2025
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Harassment ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Title VII
And you thought they’d be asleep the next four years. This week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a press release indicating that the EEOC would be cracking down on antisemitism in the workplace, with...more
I reported a few weeks ago that President Trump fired two Democratic Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (former Chair Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels). He appointed Commissioner Andrea Lucas...more
2/21/2025
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
LGBTQ ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration
Resistance is building. In his third week in office, President Trump is beginning to meet with resistance to some of his initiatives. Here is the latest.
Court blocks voluntary separation program -- at least, until Monday....more
2/7/2025
/ Citizenship ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Employees ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
I've been asking this a lot lately.
President Trump’s first week of his second term in office was action-packed, as I posted last week. If you thought things would slow down for Week 2, you were mistaken.
You may remember...more
1/31/2025
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Employees ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Military Service Members ,
NLRA ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Reinstatement ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour
Whoa, Nelly! It's a stampede!
After President Trump took office on Monday, he lost no time in undoing as much as he could from not only the Biden Administration, but also going all the way back to the days of President...more
1/24/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Citizenship ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Donald Trump ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Immigration Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
Employer going to trial in age discrimination case. We had a blizzard last Friday (in North Carolina, 2 inches is a blizzard), and we still have ice and snow on the ground a week later.
Anyway, I've had enough of winter now...more
1/22/2025
/ Age Discrimination ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Documentation ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Performance Reviews ,
Summary Judgment ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wrongful Termination
As we welcome 2025, here are 10 must-read Constangy bulletins and blog posts from 2024, highlighting insights that guided our readers through important legal developments, workplace issues, and the challenges in cybersecurity...more
1/9/2025
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Bias ,
Breach Notification Rule ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Green Cards ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Minimum Salary ,
NFL ,
NLRB ,
O-1 Aliens of Extraordinary Ability ,
Race Discrimination ,
Racial Bias ,
Retaliation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SolarWinds ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
You can't make this stuff up.
I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving.
A federal judge just down the road from me ruled this week that a woman’s retaliation case should go to a jury, even though her sexual harassment...more
The bathroom battle (among others) continues. The State of Texas and the Heritage Foundation, on behalf of employers, have challenged the EEOC's recent Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. The lawsuit alleges...more
11/22/2024
/ AFL-CIO ,
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
SCOTUS ,
Texas ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
The times, they are a'changin'. Wasn't it nice of me to give you a week and a half off to recover from the election? I hope everyone is safe and strong again, and ready to talk about what employers can expect from President...more
Stuff's getting real. As many of you know, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is starting to sue employers who it claims are not complying with the reasonable accommodation requirements of the Pregnant Workers...more
Warning -- I'm about to go on a rant. Do you ever read something in the news that just makes you go, "Sheesh, people!!!" Or words to that effect? And, no, I am not talking about the Presidential Election.
The Wall Street...more
If you follow these, you should be in great shape. Reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act continues to flummox many employers. But it shouldn’t be that hard, at least not in most cases. Here are...more
8/16/2024
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Documentation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Wage and Hour
Learn from a real employer's mistakes. Imagine this scenario: You are advertising for an open position. You get three applicants:
•Applicant 1 meets or exceeds all of your requirements.
•Applicant 2 fails to meet your...more
It's not over. I previously reported that a number of states have challenged the new Enforcement Guidance on workplace harassment issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, based on the position that the...more
The legal challenges relate to "abortion accommodation." Not long ago, I blogged about two legal challenges to the regulations interpreting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. In one case, 14 state attorneys general filed...more
Employers who (allegedly) didn't file are being sued. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced on Wednesday that it has filed suit against 15 employers in 11 states and in a variety of industries for failing to...more
Pregnancy regs, harassment guidance under fire. Not long ago, I reported that a number of state attorneys general had filed suit seeking to block the final regulations interpreting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Their...more