Archive for August 2023
Fifth Circuit Eviscerates a Requirement for Title VII Claims. What’s Next?
In its recent en banc opinion in Hamilton v. Dallas County, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned nearly 30 years of precedent that required Title VII plaintiffs to allege that they had been subjected to an “ultimate employment decision.” As a result, a host of heretofore unactionable conduct just became subject…
Read MoreFifth Circuit Upends 30 Years of Title VII Precedent, Making it Easier for Employees to Bring Discrimination Claims
Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upended longstanding, employer-friendly precedent in cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. For decades, an employment discrimination plaintiff in the Fifth Circuit had to demonstrate the “adverse employment action” forming the basis of their complaint constituted an “ultimate employment decision”—which the Court of Appeals…
Read MoreEEOC Releases Expansive Proposed Regulations to Implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released proposed regulations under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) that include an expansive reading of the requirements imposed by the law. Among the proposed regulations is a proposed rule requiring employers to consider eliminating one or more essential functions of a job for up to 40 weeks…
Read MoreNew Ruling from the National Labor Relations Board May Require Significant Handbook Revisions
On August 2, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision, Stericycle Inc. and Teamsters Local 628, that creates a new legal standard for how the NLRB will evaluate workplace rules and policies to determine if such rules interfere with employees’ protected rights to engage in concerted workplace activity under Section 7 of the National…
Read MoreGeneral Complaints By Other Employees Do Not Necessarily Provide Constructive Notice of Harassment
Although the employee argued that the employer should have known that she was being sexually harassed based on complaints by other employees, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit found that such complaints were not sufficiently similar or close in time to trigger liability for the employer. Moreover, the employer had no duty…
Read MorePre-Employment Background Checks: Considerations for Employers When Screening Prospective Employees
Employers commonly conduct background checks on prospective employees in various areas that they may think relevant when deciding whether to hire an individual for a job. Yet, federal, state, and local laws are increasingly regulating and limiting pre-employment background checks to protect prospective employees from perceived unfair or illegal treatment. Given this trend, we thought…
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