On August 15, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned a federal district court’s decision to block the enforcement of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) against the State of Texas....more
8/21/2025
/ Appeals ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Final Rules ,
Injunctions ,
New Legislation ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Quorum ,
Reasonable Accommodation
President Donald Trump removed Democratic U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) commissioners Charlotte A. Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, upending the Democratic voting majority on the EEOC. ...more
On July 17, 2024, the U.S. District for the Northern District of Texas rejected the State of Texas’s request that it vacate recent guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on harassment and...more
7/26/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
Harassment ,
LGBTQ ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
On July 17, 2024, the U.S. District for the Northern District of Texas rejected the State of Texas’s request that it vacate recent guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on harassment and...more
7/26/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
Harassment ,
LGBTQ ,
New Guidance ,
Pending Litigation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII
On June 17, 2024, a federal court in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement in Louisiana and Mississippi of the portion of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) final rule...more
7/1/2024
/ Abortion ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Final Rules ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Standing ,
Statutory Authority ,
Title VII
On April 29, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued the final version of new workplace harassment guidance for employers, formally updating the EEOC’s position on the legal standards and employer...more
5/1/2024
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
New Guidance ,
Pregnancy ,
Protected Class ,
Race Relations ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
On April 15, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) unveiled its final rule and interpretive guidance implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), clarifying employers’ responsibilities under...more
Fifth Circuit precedent recognizes the “general consensus among courts” that regular, in-person work is an essential function of most jobs. Yet the continued viability of this premise has been in question, given the ability...more
7/12/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appellate Courts ,
Commute Time ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Essential Functions ,
Genuine Issue of Material Fact ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Reversal ,
Split of Authority ,
Summary Judgment ,
Telecommuting ,
USPS
The U.S. secretary of health and human services declared a public health emergency (PHE) due to COVID-19 on January 31, 2020, and since that time, employers have faced a barrage of accommodation requests, largely in the form...more
On August 6, 2019, in State of Texas v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) overstepped its limited rulemaking...more
8/9/2019
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Adverse Impact ,
Appeals ,
Business Necessity ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Lack of Authority ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Notice and Comment ,
Race Discrimination ,
Title VII
Names play an important role for an employee who, in filing a charge of discrimination, must satisfy Title VII’s naming requirement. This is because an employee who fails to properly name defendants in a charge of...more