From OCR to AI The Future of Media and Image Analysis in eDiscovery
HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
Podcast - Data Privacy and Tracking Technology Compliance
Patient Data and Privacy
2022 DSIR Deeper Dive: OCR’s Right of Access Initiative
HIPAA Tips With Williams Mullen - Telehealth After the Pandemic
Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Webinar: Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus
On February 5, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) entitled Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports. This EO expresses strong disapproval of policies allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls’...more
On January 16, 2025, the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education – the agency responsible for enforcing Title IX at institutions of higher education – issued a Fact Sheet confirming that OCR will apply...more
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published on April 6, 2023, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) about sex-related criteria used to limit or deny a student's ability to participate in...more
On April 6, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released its much-anticipated proposed Title IX rule on the eligibility of students for participation in athletic programs based on their gender identity....more
The participation of transgender athletes in youth, interscholastic, and elite sport has long been a highly charged political issue domestically and internationally, with a vast range of different approaches to regulating...more
Athletics is poised to be a major topic in Title IX this year. The participation of transgender athletes in school sports continues to dominate headlines, as we reported earlier on this blog, while gender inequity remains a...more
On July 25, 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a long-awaited proposed rule on Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the nondiscrimination protections...more
The law regarding discrimination on the basis of "sex" continues to evolve rapidly. Perhaps sparked by last year's landmark discrimination ruling in the Bostock case and by President Biden's day-one Executive Order on...more
On June 22, 2021, the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) and the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division (“DOJ) issued a joint Fact Sheet addressed to elementary and secondary...more
In a somewhat unsurprising development, the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights [OCR] has issued a new interpretation of Title IX, recognizing that it prohibits discrimination on the basis of...more
On September 8, 2020, an Education Dive article quoted me about two recent letters from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on the impact on Title IX of this year’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court...more
The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has made another round of revisions to its Case Processing Manual (CPM), effective Aug. 26, 2020. The CPM, last updated in November 2018, outlines the...more
In a seismic decision that could wreak havoc with Connecticut school districts, OCR has determined that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference [CIAC] policy on transgender athletes violates Title IX of the...more
It seems like all we talk about these days in the Title IX world is sexual harassment, as we scramble to implement new Title IX regulations that go into effect in August. Yet, this week brought significant news with respect...more
It goes without saying that federally funded educational institutions cannot discriminate on the basis of gender. Some federal courts believe Title IX is the proper statute upon which to base employment discrimination claims,...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education (“ED”) published on its website a list of “pending cases currently under investigation” by its Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”). Previously, OCR had released a list of higher...more
• An equal rights group and three individual plaintiffs have filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court in Boston against the Department of Education (ED) and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. The complaint alleges that the...more
Changing course on complaints involving transgender students, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently issued new field instructions to its regional staff excluding discrimination claims based...more
In May 2016, the Obama Administration’s U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague letter directing schools to recognize and treat...more
Many higher education institutions are well-versed in Title IX compliance and litigation issues as they relate to gender discrimination claims on account of university conduct, or claims arising out of sexual assaults on...more
On October 28, 2016 the United States Supreme Court agreed to review the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. This case is about whether a Virginia School Board’s policy limiting students’...more
On June 15, 2016, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in conjunction with the Department’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) issued a Dear Colleague Letter (“Letter”)...more
In a move that made headlines across the country, two federal government agencies issued a significant guidance document last week interpreting Title IX's requirements for protecting transgender students' rights....more
Two divisions of the federal government have weighed in on the recent legal controversies surrounding accommodations for transgender students. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S....more
A majority panel of three judges in GG v Gloucester County School Board, U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Cir. Case No. 15-2056 (April 19, 2016), reversed a federal trial court's decision, endorsed the Office of Civil Rights'...more