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Discrimination / Harassment

Supervisor authorized religious accommodation? Good luck making changes

12/01/2025
If you haven’t required supervisors to get HR involved in the approval process, you should. A supervisor’s informal accommodation can backfire otherwise, making it very hard to revoke the accommodation. That’s what happened in one recently filed lawsuit.

Insider spills what’s next for EEOC

12/01/2025
Attendees at the annual American Bar Association labor and employment law conference heard from legal experts on a wide variety of topics, including what to expect in 2026 from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The sole remaining Democrat commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal, shared her insider view of what’s been happening behind the scenes.

Salary history bans show measurable progress in closing pay gaps

11/24/2025
Using large-scale labor market and job-posting datasets, researchers found that removing past pay from negotiations not only increases transparency and boosts starting salaries but also delivers outsized gains for women and nonwhite workers whose prior earnings often reflect structural inequities rather than true market value.

As religious litigation increases, take these steps to prove undue hardship

11/17/2025
Here’s what you need to do before claiming that approving religious accommodations would create an undue burden.

Employers aren’t always liable for third-party harassment

11/17/2025
Last month, we told you about a federal appeals case that ruled that an employer may not be liable for third-party sexual harassment that occurs off-premises even if the harasser is a client or customer. Now, another federal court has ruled that an employer isn’t liable for third-party harassment on the premises, either.

Employers may soon face broader sexual assault liability

11/10/2025
The American Law Institute recently approved a change to recommended interpretations of tort law to include employer liability for sexual assaults. Its recommendations are widely used by judges when deciding whether an employer broke the law.

EEOC sued over refusing to bring disparate-impact cases

11/10/2025
A woman who worked as an Amazon driver has sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She says the agency has stopped investigating disparate-impact cases and, therefore, abrogated its responsibility to investigate all discrimination complaints.

New EEOC lawsuit highlights the need to prevent age discrimination

11/03/2025
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued an El Paso-based logistics company over allegations that it blatantly discriminated against older workers. The allegations include firing and refusing to hire older workers using the excuse that they could not find truck liability insurance covering drivers over age 65.

Case highlights need for “no slurs” policy

10/27/2025
Providing a harassment-free workplace is essential, and that includes keeping language respectful. It should go without saying that racial, religious, sexist and other demeaning name-calling must be banned. But what happens if an employee uses an epithet that’s typically aimed at individuals who belong to the same protected class the speaker belongs to?

EEOC reboot: Fewer lawsuits, sharper focus

10/27/2025
Following a year of major turnover and political shifts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is charting a new course that blends regulatory rollback with renewed focus on systemic discrimination.