September 16, 2024
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Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

EEOC Files First Lawsuit Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed its first lawsuit alleging that an employer violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which took effect last year. In EEOC v. Wabash National Corp., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, the EEOC alleges that a manufacturer of semi-trailers and commercial trucking equipment violated the PWFA by requiring...
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August 06, 2024
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Category: Appropriations

Best Case Scenario for EEOC, OFCCP in FY 2025 May Be Flat Funding

As Congress moves forward with setting federal government funding levels for fiscal year 2025, it seems increasingly likely that workforce enforcement agencies will be funded at current FY 2024 levels. These agencies include the Labor Department’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). FY 2025...
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July 24, 2024
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Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

EEOC COVID Vaccine Settlement Highlights Risk in Questioning Employees’ Religious Beliefs

A recent settlement involving an employer and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) illustrates the potential risk for an employer that questions whether an employee who asks for a religious accommodation has sincere religious beliefs. The settlement agreement in EEOC v. Hank’s Furniture, (N.D. Fla. July 15, 2024), prohibits the employer from concluding that any religious belief is not sincere because the...
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July 16, 2024
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Category: Discrimination and Harassment

EEOC Officially Rescinds ADA/GINA Interpretive Guidance on Wellness Plan Incentives

More than five years after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) rescinded portions of its regulations dealing with incentives that employers could offer under corporate wellness plans without violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), the agency officially withdrew its guidance interpreting those regulations. While the agency’s action is largely a cleanup exercise, it...
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June 24, 2024
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Category: Disability, Accommodations, and Leaves

Federal Courts Reach Different Opinions in PWFA Pregnancy Accommodation Cases

Two federal district courts considering challenges to regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) have reached different conclusions regarding the statute’s application to workers having elective abortions. The regulations, issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), took effect June 18, 2024. In the first case, Tennessee v. EEOC (E.D. Ark. June 14, 2024), a federal district court in Arkansas...
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June 11, 2024
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Category: Discrimination and Harassment

EEOC Declares That Using Health Plan Denying Gender-Affirming Care Violates Title VII

The denial of health insurance coverage for gender-affirming care constitutes disparate treatment discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled May 30, 2024, in Marc Lawrence a/k/a Terrell C. v. Rob Shriver. In this case, the retired employee’s Blue Cross Blue Shield FEHB Program specifically excluded coverage for services, medication, and supplies for...
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June 03, 2024
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Category: Discrimination and Harassment

Red State AGs Are Challenging the Constitutionality of the EEOC

The Republican Attorneys General from several states have filed two federal lawsuits challenging actions of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on grounds that its structure is unconstitutional. On April 25, 2024, Tennessee and 16 other states filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas challenging the EEOC’s final substantive regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers...
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May 29, 2024
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Category: Agency Enforcement

EEOC Sues Multiple Employers for Failing To File EEO-1 Reports

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued 15 employers in 10 states for failing to file mandatory annual EEO-1 reports for a period of several years. The EEOC announced this unprecedented move in a May 29, 2024, press release. The employers include companies from the retail, construction, restaurant, manufacturing, logistics, and service industries. In each case, the EEOC is...
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May 20, 2024
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Category: Discrimination and Harassment

Group of “Red” State AGs Files Challenge to EEOC’s New Harassment Guidance

Republican Attorneys General from 18 states filed a lawsuit May 13, 2024, challenging several provisions of workplace anti-harassment guidance  issued last month by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Tennessee v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, focuses on the provisions that relate to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI)...
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May 20, 2024
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Category: Agency Enforcement

EEOC’s Final FY 2023 Enforcement Statistics Show 10% Increase in Charges Filed

For the second year in a row, there was a notable increase in discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity, according to the EEOC’s FY 2023 enforcement and litigation statistics. Fiscal year (FY) 2023 covers October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023. The agency received 81,055 discrimination charges in FY 2023, a 10% increase from the year before. This is...
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