Allegations of disability bias played a prominent role in two separate lawsuits that were filed and recently settled by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is the federal agency that enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The two cases, which involved employers in New York and Texas and produced a total of $400,000 […]
Sometimes, a person of one sex may be paid less than a person of the other sex in the same job for reasons that have nothing to do with gender. That means that such a difference isn’t always proof of unlawful gender bias. A new ruling from Iowa’s highest court drove home the point clearly, […]
A New Jersey company was ordered to reinstate an employee who was fired for using the F-bomb and the N-word during a Zoom call. At first glance, the court’s decision might seem a bit surprising – but it holds a valuable lesson for employers. Zoom call gaffe On July 29, 2020, a white employee used […]
It’s not too often that statutory language provides a pretty clear answer to a question that makes it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. But that’s exactly what happened when the High Court delivered an employee-friendly ruling about retaliation in a case filed under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Under that act, […]
Last fall, the DOL announced that it would increase civil money penalties for child labor violations. And an egregious case out of western Pennsylvania highlights the need to increase protection efforts for underage workers. Sexual assault in restaurant bathroom The lawsuit involved Rice Enterprises LLC, a McDonald’s franchisee located in the Pittsburgh area, and a […]
DEI policies have been under the spotlight – and been more frequently attacked – since a Supreme Court ruling issued last year effectively ended race-based affirmative action in higher education. Although that ruling did not address employment, it nonetheless emboldened DEI critics to launch more focused attacks on DEI programs in the workplace. For example, […]
We know the law sometimes requires employers to provide job accommodation, such as for religious or disability-related reasons. But we also know that somewhere in all the muck is a line that employers don’t have to cross over. In other words, there’s a limit to the accommodation employers have to provide. That limit exists for […]
Word to the wise: The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) is cracking down on religious discrimination based on facial hair, as these two recent settlements out of Illinois and Virginia show. Here’s where the two companies went wrong in assessing employees’ beard accommodation requests. Hobson’s choice: Shave or get fired! The first case involved Blackwell […]
On January 12, the IRS released new guidance for plan sponsors implementing Pension-Linked Emergency Savings Accounts (PLESAs) authorized by SECURE 2.0. PLESAs – which are short-term saving accounts designed to help non-highly compensated employees save for financial emergencies – were authorized under Section 127 of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act […]
Many Title VII cases rely on the theory that an employer intentionally discriminated against an employee or applicant. But there’s another viable theory that employees and applicants can raise, and it’s called disparate impact discrimination. Under this theory, even facially nondiscriminatory policies and practices can violate the law because they have a disproportionate negative impact […]
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued new federal guidance on pension-linked emergency savings accounts (PLESAs) that employers should be aware of. PLESAs are a result of one of two provisions of SECURE Act 2.0 that went into effect this year. Under the provision, employers are able to establish an emergency savings account within an […]
A restaurant will pay $25,000 and take other steps to end a suit that accused it of unlawfully allowing one of its employees to endure transgender harassment. The EEOC pursued the litigation on behalf of Quinn Gambino, a transgender man who worked as a cook for T.C. Wheelers, Inc., which operates as T.C. Wheelers Bar […]
A Michigan hospital has agreed to pay $50,000 and furnish other relief to settle a lawsuit that accused it of pulling a job offer because the applicant sought a religious exemption to its flu vaccine requirement. The suit, filed by the EEOC, said the hospital violated Title VII’s ban on religious discrimination by pulling the […]
Beyond Yoga recently paid more than $1.1 million to cover back wages and damages owed to its contractors’ employees who were allegedly shortchanged on overtime pay. You might be wondering: Why in the world would any company shoulder a seven-figure expense for its contractors’ mistakes? A little thing called the “hot goods” provisions, tucked into […]
Walmart has agreed to pay $60,000 and take other steps to resolve charges that it violated federal law by denying a promotion to an employee because she had young children at home. The suit was filed by the EEOC on behalf of Tiffanee Johnson, who began working at an Iowa Walmart location as a part-time […]
As an HR pro, you’ve probably heard about the significant responsibilities that come with acting as fiduciary for a benefits plan. According to the DOL, fiduciaries must: And when fiduciaries fail to uphold these obligations, they can be held personally liable, as this recent case from Baltimore shows. ERISA suit: Money wasn’t remitted […]
