President Joe Biden’s first days in office have focused heavily on issues of diversity, inclusion, equity, and human rights as applied across federal agencies and programs. We anticipate that this pattern will continue and...more
1/28/2021
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Biden Administration ,
Census ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DACA ,
Executive Orders ,
Immigration Reform ,
Infectious Diseases ,
LGBTQ ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Race Relations ,
Social Equity Programs ,
Transgender ,
Travel Ban
Immediately following his inauguration on January 20, US President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. began taking executive action to enact many of his administration’s initial priorities, which included a number of executive orders,...more
1/22/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DACA ,
Eviction ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreclosure ,
Infectious Diseases ,
LGBTQ ,
Masks ,
Moratorium ,
Muslims ,
Paris Agreement ,
Regulatory Freeze ,
Regulatory Mandates ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Travel Ban ,
Workplace Safety
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on January 11 published its Final Rule amending procedural rules for its conciliation process. EEOC is statutorily required to engage in the conciliation process whenever it...more
On the heels of the US Food and Drug Administration’s first issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization for a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published an updated technical...more
12/18/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidance to public health agencies on December 2 to provide options to reduce the duration of quarantine periods for asymptomatic individuals who were exposed to...more
As the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases continue to rise throughout the country and the impact of the pandemic on employers continues unabated, many employers and employees are exploring not only how to work remotely,...more
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new interim guidance on November 16, revising the approach businesses should take when determining whether critical infrastructure workers who have been exposed to...more
11/25/2020
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Essential Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
New Guidance ,
Operators of Essential Services ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Quarantine ,
Workplace Safety
As the world awaits a successful COVID-19 vaccine, employers are beginning to consider the implications a new vaccine will have on their workplaces. Although much remains speculative, employers can look to the regulation of...more
11/10/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
FDA Approval ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration ,
Vaccinations ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has expanded its definition of “close contact” to include individuals who spend 15 cumulative minutes within six feet of an individual infected with coronavirus (COVID-19)...more
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published a Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register, seeking information from federal contractors, federal subcontractors, and their employees regarding...more
10/23/2020
/ Bias ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Deregulation ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Training ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
Race Relations ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Request For Information ,
Sexual Stereotyping ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on October 9 to amend its procedural rules regarding the conciliation process. ...more
The administration has begun taking actions with regard to workplace diversity trainings and representation goals on the basis of race, but clarifies that unconscious bias training is still permissible....more
10/12/2020
/ Bias ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Deregulation ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Training ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
OMB ,
Race Relations ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Sexual Stereotyping ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order on September 22 prohibiting “divisive concepts” in workplace diversity training offered by the federal government, federal contractors, or federal grantees. The order lists...more
9/29/2020
/ Bias ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Deregulation ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Training ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
Race Relations ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Sexual Stereotyping ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its most recent round of Q&As on June 11 offering guidance to employers on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other equal employment opportunity laws...more
6/22/2020
/ ADEA ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
Title VII ,
Virus Testing
The US Supreme Court on June 15 issued its long-anticipated ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which raised the question of whether Title VII’s anti-discrimination provisions protect applicants and employees who experience...more
6/16/2020
/ Altitude Express Inc v Zarda ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
EEOC v RG & GR Harris Funeral Homes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
A bill passed by the US House of Representatives on March 13 to address the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency imposes a mandate on all employers with fewer than 500 employees, and on all federal and state...more
3/16/2020
/ Business Continuity Plans ,
China ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Pending Legislation ,
Public Health ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Tax Credits ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
The outbreak of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has created a number of questions and compliance challenges for employers in the United States as well as across the globe. This is a fluid and rapidly changing...more
2/5/2020
/ Airline Passengers ,
Airplane Accidents ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
China ,
Confidential Information ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Discrimination ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Emergency Response ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
General Duty Clause ,
Harassment ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Infectious Diseases ,
International Travel ,
Labor Regulations ,
Medical Records ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
PHI ,
Public Health ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Screening Procedures ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Traveling Employee ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting ,
Workplace Safety ,
World Health Organization
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and its contractor issued long-awaited resource documents on July 1 on how to submit EEO-1 Component 2 compensation data for fiscal years 2017 and 2018. The web-based portal...more
The New York State Senate and Assembly on June 19 passed Bill 8421 (the Bill), which lowers the standard for an employee to prevail when raising harassment claims, limits a potential employer defense against harassment...more
Judge Tanya Chutkan of the US District Court for the District of Columbia on April 25 ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to collect EEO-1 Component 2 pay data collection for fiscal years 2017 and 2018...more
The National Women’s Law Center and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement objected to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) April 3 proposal to extend the filing deadline for its EEO-1 Component 2...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on April 3 informed a US district court that it will need to extend the filing deadline for its EEO-1 Component 2 pay data collection from May 31, 2019, to September 30,...more