Discrimination / Harassment

Court vacates transgender-related portions of EEOC anti-harassment guidance

05/27/2025

Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction that said the EEOC exceeded its authority in 2024.

The latest cost of failing to accommodate employee’s religion: $13 million

05/27/2025

The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Groff v. DeJoy made it much harder for employers to justify denying an employee’s request for religious accommodations. Since then, most refusal-to-vaccinate lawsuits have been settled in favor of employees.

Understand the difference between legal and illegal DEI

05/15/2025

Quotas and preferences based on protected characteristics are unlawful. But what if you want to improve representation of marginalized groups in your workplace, and do it legally? Thankfully, the EEOC has long offered guidance.

Offer health benefits to all, regardless of age

05/12/2025

Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, it’s illegal to offer different benefits to workers ages 40 and older than you offer to younger employees. That’s true even if it costs you more to provide the same benefits to older workers.

Be better! Anti-harassment training, half-hearted investigations aren’t enough

05/02/2025

Why aren’t anti-harassment policies more effective at preventing harassment? The answer may lie in ineffective training and the failure of employers to follow their own policies.

Executive order directs EEOC, other agencies to ‘deprioritize’ disparate-impact discrimination

04/28/2025

The order, issued April 23 and titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” contends that the threat of being sued for disparate-impact discrimination prevents employers from hiring the best-qualified candidates, promoting successful employees and generally running their businesses as they see fit.

Discipline consistently to avoid reverse-discrimination lawsuits

04/25/2025

There’s a simple way to avoid many kinds of reverse-discrimination lawsuits: Treat everyone alike. That means making sure supervisors apply work rules impartially and without exception unless there is an objective reason discipline should differ.

Federal contractors no longer have to promise their restrooms aren’t segregated

04/21/2025

A letter from the U.S. General Services Administration’s Office of Government-wide Acquisition Policy notes that White House Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, rescinded a 1965 executive order that required contractors to end the practice of maintaining separate restrooms for white and minority employees.

4 Big Law firms settle with EEOC to end scrutiny of DEI programs

04/21/2025

Four of the world’s largest law firms have entered into settlement agreements with the EEOC promising that their diversity, equity and inclusion practices do not result in unlawful discrimination or preferences based on race, sex or other protected characteristics. In return for settling, the EEOC agreed not to investigate the firms for allegedly discriminatory practices.

Court: Simply offering DEI program doesn’t establish hostile environment

04/18/2025

The mere existence of a DEI program doesn’t establish a hostile environment if an employee wasn’t singled out or personally affected.