As we enter the third year of a pandemic, the ongoing disruption caused by COVID-19 and its variants often leaves employers juggling legal and business considerations regarding their workforce. Specifically, many employees are also caregivers — whether they are caring for children, a spouse, an individual with a disability or older relatives.
Continue Reading Caring for caregivers: Understanding caregiver discrimination under federal laws

As the rate of COVID-19 cases continues to trend downward in most parts of the country, and employers begin to relax mask policies and encourage employees’ return to the office, COVID-19-related issues remain at the forefront — including employee vaccination status. On March 1, 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its COVID-19 guidance regarding religious objections to employer vaccine requirements.
Continue Reading EEOC issues guidance on COVID-19 vaccine religious accommodation requirements

As employers across the country have begun to implement COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently updated its guidance regarding religious accommodations. As a reminder, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act states that an employee may be entitled to a reasonable accommodation from a workplace requirement if the employee has a sincerely-held religious belief, practice or observance that prevents the employee from adhering to the requirement.
Continue Reading EEOC revises guidance regarding religious accommodations for COVID-19 requirements

A federal lawsuit alleging discrimination under Title VII must be filed within ninety days after the EEOC has completed its handling of the related discrimination charge and issued its Notice of Right To Sue. Some employers attempt to shorten the time for filing discrimination charges by getting employee or applicants to sign agreements to that

 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced the filing window for the newly required Component 2 pay data opens July 15, 2019. Private employers with at least 100 employees are required to submit pay data for calendar years 2017 and 2018 by Sept. 30, 2019. This new requirement is ordered by the court decision in the National Women’s Law Center v. Office of Management and Budget case.

The EEOC has taken a number of steps to assist employers with this new filing requirement.


Continue Reading EEO-1 reporting: Pay data filing begins July 15, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently that Title VII’s administrative exhaustion requirement – whereby an employee must file a claim with the EEOC prior to filing a lawsuit – is not a jurisdictional rule. This means that the employee’s failure to file a charge does not automatically mean the case cannot go to court. Instead, the employer must raise the “failure to file” issue as an affirmative defense and do so in a timely fashion. The case is Fort Bend County v. Davis.

Facts

Lois Davis filed a charge against her employer, Fort Bend County, with the Texas Workforce Commission (Texas’ EEOC equivalent) claiming sexual harassment and retaliation. While that charge was pending, Davis was terminated. She claimed it was  for failing to report to work due to a church commitment. After her termination, Davis attempted to raise the issue of religious discrimination in the ongoing Texas Workforce Commission investigation, but she did not add it to the actual charge. Shortly thereafter, she filed a lawsuit in federal district court alleging sexual harassment, retaliation, and religious discrimination under Title VII.
Continue Reading United States Supreme Court makes it easier to get discrimination cases into court

Pay Data Required by September 30, 2019

Further action has occurred in the National Women’s Law Center v. Office of Management and Budget case, about which we reported here. Employers will need to report 2018 pay data to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by September 30, 2019. While it is clear that employers