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Discrimination / Harassment

CROWN Act spreads among the states in effort to prevent race discrimination

08/11/2023
Texas recently became the 21st state to add natural hairstyle protection to its laws prohibiting discrimination in employment. It’s part of a legislative trend to enact what are called CROWN Acts.

How to protect against the coming explosion of anti-DEI lawsuits

07/31/2023
When the U.S. Supreme Court in June struck down Harvard University’s affirmative action admissions plan, it wrote that “[e]liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” Now employers with diversity, equity and inclusion programs worry that their efforts to achieve a diverse workplace will come under attack, too.

Ask these questions when challenging employee requests for religious accommodations

07/28/2023
According to the Supreme Court, employers can’t justify turning down a request for a religious reasonable accommodation because of its impact on morale for co-workers who may have to pick up weekend or holiday shifts so their religious colleague can have the time off. However, nothing in the recent Groff v. DeJoy decision says employers can’t challenge up front whether an employee is eligible for religious accommodations.

A matter of morals … or discrimination? Expect more cases claiming ‘expressive association’

07/24/2023
The Supreme Court ruled in June that a Colorado web designer could decline to develop sites celebrating same-sex weddings based on her First Amendment expressive freedom of association. Now a different employer—a Catholic school—is trying to argue it has the right to “expressive association” in the employment context, able to reject applicants or fire employees who don’t live up to its views on moral behavior.

EEOC finding novel ways to drive industry change

07/20/2023
Not content just to punish discrimination, the EEOC is seeking ways to increase employment opportunities for members of protected classes.

Sink retaliation claims by engaging an outsider to investigate bias complaints

07/20/2023
Using an outside entity to investigate internal discrimination or harassment complaints helps prevent retaliation lawsuits. That’s because there’s no reason for an outside investigator to take sides in the outcome.

When evaluating religious accommodations, accept sincerity of employee’s stated beliefs

07/20/2023
The EEOC is pushing the envelope on how far employers can go if they want to deny requests for reasonable religious accommodations. It doesn’t generally approve of employers probing too deeply into why an employee might have a faith-based objection to following an employer’s dress and grooming rules.

After Groff ruling, how to accommodate religion at work

07/17/2023
On June 29, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in Groff v. DeJoy that employers must accommodate employees’ religious practices and beliefs unless doing so creates an undue hardship. Now, employers must revamp their religious accommodation process or risk litigation.

Keep it Legal: Beware stereotyping ambition

07/14/2023
While we may all like to think we don’t stereotype based on sex, race, nationality or any other protected class, the truth is that we may. And the number of lawsuits alleging that employers made hiring and promotion decisions based on stereotyping should serve as a warning to self-audit for doing just that.

Prepare to pay up if your DEI policy discriminates

07/14/2023
Sometimes, employers are caught between conflicting workplace priorities. Such was recently the case for pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. In an effort to cultivate a more diverse workforce, it wound up discriminating against a protected class: older workers covered by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.