|
Category: Agency Enforcement

CWC’s Updated Guide To Drafting an Effective EEOC Position Statement

The Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, has updated its Guide to Drafting an Effective EEOC Position Statement now that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has transitioned to a digitized charge process. Once the EEOC receives a discrimination charge, an agency investigator will ask the employer to submit a position statement. The employer is well...
|
Category: Affirmative Action and Diversity

New EEOC Report Takes Another Look at Diversity in the High Tech Workforce and Sector

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued a report concluding that people of color are underrepresented in the high-tech workforce compared with their participation in the overall U.S. workforce. The report—High Tech, Low Inclusion: Diversity in the High Tech Workforce and Sector 2014-2022—concludes that people of color in high-tech jobs are better represented in the high-tech sector. The high-tech workforce refers...
|
Category: Discrimination and Harassment

Fifth Circuit Rules “Equitable Tolling” Allows for Late Filing With the EEOC

A federal appeals court has applied the doctrine of equitable tolling to extend the deadline for filing an unlawful retaliation charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In Weathers v. Houston Methodist Hospital, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled September 4 that an individual who filed a discrimination charge with the EEOC two days late...
|
Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

EEOC Files First Lawsuit Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed its first lawsuit alleging that an employer violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which took effect last year. In EEOC v. Wabash National Corp., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, the EEOC alleges that a manufacturer of semi-trailers and commercial trucking equipment violated the PWFA by requiring...
|
Category: Appropriations

Best Case Scenario for EEOC, OFCCP in FY 2025 May Be Flat Funding

As Congress moves forward with setting federal government funding levels for fiscal year 2025, it seems increasingly likely that workforce enforcement agencies will be funded at current FY 2024 levels. These agencies include the Labor Department’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). FY 2025...
|
Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

EEOC COVID Vaccine Settlement Highlights Risk in Questioning Employees’ Religious Beliefs

A recent settlement involving an employer and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) illustrates the potential risk for an employer that questions whether an employee who asks for a religious accommodation has sincere religious beliefs. The settlement agreement in EEOC v. Hank’s Furniture, (N.D. Fla. July 15, 2024), prohibits the employer from concluding that any religious belief is not sincere because the...
|
Category: Discrimination and Harassment

EEOC Officially Rescinds ADA/GINA Interpretive Guidance on Wellness Plan Incentives

More than five years after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) rescinded portions of its regulations dealing with incentives that employers could offer under corporate wellness plans without violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), the agency officially withdrew its guidance interpreting those regulations. While the agency’s action is largely a cleanup exercise, it...
|
Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

Federal Courts Reach Different Opinions in PWFA Pregnancy Accommodation Cases

Two federal district courts considering challenges to regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) have reached different conclusions regarding the statute’s application to workers having elective abortions. The regulations, issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), took effect June 18, 2024. In the first case, Tennessee v. EEOC (E.D. Ark. June 14, 2024), a federal district court in Arkansas...
|
Category: Discrimination and Harassment

EEOC Declares That Using Health Plan Denying Gender-Affirming Care Violates Title VII

The denial of health insurance coverage for gender-affirming care constitutes disparate treatment discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled May 30, 2024, in Marc Lawrence a/k/a Terrell C. v. Rob Shriver. In this case, the retired employee’s Blue Cross Blue Shield FEHB Program specifically excluded coverage for services, medication, and supplies for...
|
Category: Discrimination and Harassment

Red State AGs Are Challenging the Constitutionality of the EEOC

The Republican Attorneys General from several states have filed two federal lawsuits challenging actions of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on grounds that its structure is unconstitutional. On April 25, 2024, Tennessee and 16 other states filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas challenging the EEOC’s final substantive regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers...

Categories