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Employment Law

Gender identity on the docket: Lawsuit slams EEOC’s anti-harassment guidance

06/17/2024
When the EEOC issued new final enforcement guidance on all forms of harassment in April, the agency included guidance on gender identity, dress codes, bathroom use and pronoun choice. A  group of 18 state attorneys general have filed suit, alleging that the guidance goes too far.

Stamp out gender stereotyping, the workplace curse that can trigger both discrimination and harassment claims

06/13/2024
Your training programs must address the legal perils that arise when managers and supervisors base decisions on prejudiced assumptions about employees who belong to protected classes. Ensure your training also covers how to prevent, identify, stop, report and fix harassment when it is uncovered.

Sexual harassment, bathrooms and pronouns

06/13/2024
Everyone has the right to their own belief structures. However, shrouding a discriminatory belief in a cloak of “religious liberty” to justify one’s actions is dangerous.

How to accommodate employees who have Tourette Syndrome

06/13/2024
It may be tempting to place a worker with Tourette Syndrome in a back-of-the-house position out of fear that customers may react badly to the employee’s tics. Such purposeful segregation may violate the ADA. Instead of worrying about public reaction to the tics, focus on how the person’s skills and experience match job requirements.

Be sure to document the reasonable factors on which you base all hiring decisions

06/13/2024
Courts rarely second-guess hiring decisions as long as they are based on objective, reasonable factors, backed with documentation.

Beware the sweeping power of that other federal agency: The NLRB

06/03/2024
The NLRB doesn’t have to file lawsuits to force compliance. In fact, it manages its entire enforcement process by itself. It investigates and gathers information, determines whether a violation occurred and, if so, decides on the punishment. The NLRB is, in effect, the judge, jury and executioner of unfair labor practices cases.

PWFA and the ADA: How accommodations may differ

05/31/2024
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act entitles pregnant workers to reasonable accommodations before, during and after pregnancy. These can run the gamut from simple deviations from common workplace rules to granting leave so a new mother can recover from childbirth. PWFA accommodations potentially go far beyond what’s required under the ADA’s reasonable accommodations provisions.

SHRM: HR opposes FTC’s ban on noncompetes

05/31/2024
The Society for Human Resource Management has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the Federal Trade Commission’s blanket prohibition on noncompete agreements.

EEOC updates guidance on hostile work environments

05/30/2024
For the five fiscal years ending with FY 2023, more than one-third of the charges of employment discrimination it received included an allegation of unlawful harassment based on race, sex, disability or another protected characteristic.

Court: Your policy can require employees to keep ‘spy cams’ turned on

05/28/2024
A federal court has upheld an employer’s handbook rule requiring full-time camera monitoring of employees. The ruling is a victory for employers who want to track the behavior of employees they can’t directly observe.