Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from discrimination based on religion. With respect to religion, 42 USC 2000e(j) requires an employer to “reasonably accommodate” an employee’s beliefs and practices. But while an employer will alway... More »
Yesterday Democrats in both the House and the Senate reintroduced the Equality Act, a bill that would bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Forty-four business groups, inclu... More »
The Supreme Court’s opinion in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira is rightly being heralded as a victory for workers. The Court, after all, has finally found a mandatory arbitration agreement that it won’t enforce. But it seems odd that this Supreme Court would hand w... More »
In its first opinion of the term, the Supreme Court unanimously (8-0) ruled in favor of the employees in Mount Lemmon Fire District v. Guido, holding that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) applies to all public employers regardless of employee he... More »
While the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief to the Supreme Court this week arguing that Title VII’s workplace discrimination protections do not extend explicitly to transgender or transitioning workers, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Acti... More »
The Massachusetts legislature this week passed a new bill that would limit the use of noncompete clauses in that state. The new law, which still must be signed by Republican Governor Charlie Baker, would allow employers to prevent their workers from moving to ... More »
Last Friday, respondents filed a motion for reconsideration in the Hy-Brand case. As we’ve covered (here and here), the NLRB vacated its decision in Hy-Brand (thus restoring the Obama-era joint-employer standard) because a Board member had a conflict of... More »
Yesterday in EEOC v. R.G. &. G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, the Sixth Circuit held that “Title VII protects transgender persons because of their transgender or transitioning status” as a form of sex discrimination. In comprehensive and unequivocal language, th... More »
At the New York Times, Michael Corkery writes about the allies “Dreamers” find in the business world. The article, which identifies public statements made in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by prominent busines... More »
After Google terminated James Damore for his now infamous memo, he claimed that he was fired for concerted activities protected under the National Labor Relations Act (discussed in Part One) as well as for pointing out “potentially illegal policies/behavior.” ... More »
A New York Times piece covers the impact of drug tests (and drugs) on the economy. In particular, it profiles various manufacturing companies in the Midwest, revealing the challenges they face filling jobs due to the proportion of applicants who fail drug tes... More »
I recently proposed a Workers’ Bill of Rights, and invited others to respond with suggestions for other rights that should be included. I did receive some helpful comments, and in response I would propose adding three additional rights to the ones I had previ... More »
March 14th, 2019