A case out of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (of which, Connecticut is part of) addresses an interesting question: When a jury finds that sexual harassment has been perpetuated by a single employee, is injunctive (non-monetary) relief required to be issued by the District Court? The EEOC argued yes and argued that remedies such as… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: eeoc
Quick Hits: Election Roundup, Seminar Details, Harassment, and CTDOL Improvements
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Laws and Regulations, Legislative DevelopmentsAs the week draws to a close, it’s time for another installment of Quick Hits, where I highlight a few blog posts worth a read. As readers know, this week I’ve been posing a series of questions to the major party candidates about employment law. Other lawyers have done the same and Jon Hyman, of… Continue Reading
What’s New at the EEOC and NLRB? Your “Confidential” Investigation Is At Risk
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Labor Law & NRLB, Wage & HourTwo stories over the last few weeks have been percolating that may be of interest to employers in Connecticut. You may not see the impact immediately, but the implications are certainly there. First, the EEOC is now looking to conduct more direct investigations — that is, investigations that are initiated without any claim by an… Continue Reading
Using Criminal Background Checks in the Hiring Process; Handle With Care
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and RegulationsThe Office of Legislative Research, whom I’ve praised in several posts before (here and here), recently issued a report on the consequences of a felony conviction on employment. Overall, it does a good job summarizing the issues when it comes to state employment. But later on in the publication it states the following when discussing… Continue Reading
EEOC Statistics Show Drop in Claims Filed in Connecticut
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, LitigationWith statistics from the CHRO lacking, it’s hard to get a judge on whether claims of discrimination in Connecticut are rising or falling. The EEOC released new statistics this week, however that shed a little bit of light on the subject, albeit with a fairly small sample size. For FY 2011, the EEOC reported that… Continue Reading
EEOC Releases Important Guidance on Use of Criminal and Arrest Records By Employers
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Manager & HR Pro’s Resource CenterThe EEOC yesterday released important new guidance for employers on the use of arrest and conviction records by employers under Title VII. You can read the guidance here as well as a short question-and-answer document too. For employers in Connecticut, this new guidance only adds to the state-specific rules we have here in state and should… Continue Reading
EEOC Publishes Final Rule on Reasonable Factors Other Than Age (RFOA)
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Laws and RegulationsToday, the EEOC has published its final rule clarifying a portion of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). You can download the rule here and a FAQ from the EEOC here. The rule comes as a partial response to a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that analyzed the issue. The rule has some significance… Continue Reading
Tips for Preventing Sexual Harassment? Suggestions Sought by EEOC
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Highlight, Social MediaTwitter is one of the more remarkable creations to come out of the last decade. It’s huge, noisy, and hard to keep track of. It is also one of the most delicious communication tools ever invented. A tweet from earlier today confirmed my view of it. Chai Feldblum, who describes herself on her Twitter profile… Continue Reading
Veterans and the ADA – Helpful Answers to Burning Questions
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Manager & HR Pro’s Resource CenterEarlier this week, I beat Ohio lawyer Jon Hyman to the punch on a post about Leap Day. Yesterday, he “returned” the favor, with a notable post on the release of the EEOC’s new guide: Veterans & the ADA: A Guide for Employers. Jon looks at one issue from the guide, whether employers can give… Continue Reading
Quick Hits: Love in the Workplace, Public Employees, Pleading Standards, ADR, Novartis Settlement, EEOC Statistics
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Wage & HourOn this Valentine’s Day, while you’re out shopping for flowers and chocolate, here are a few nuggets of employment law that you might have missed lately: Since love is in the air today, Robin Shea continues the cautionary tales of sexual harassment cases in the workplace. Jon Hyman echoes the theme with a tip on… Continue Reading
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court Supports Fairly Broad “Ministerial Exception” to Anti-Discrimination Laws
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Featured, Highlight, LitigationIn a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court today gave some teeth to the “ministerial exception” that, in essence, precludes some employees of religious institutions from suing them under federal discrimination laws. I’ve discussed the exception in various posts over the years here and here. Its been supported in the Second Circuit and by the… Continue Reading
Numbers Show That Sexual Harassment Claims on the Decline
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & HarassmentDid he or didn’t he? That’s what political pundits and others have been debating the last few weeks regarding presidential candidate Herman Cain. But a more interesting question is whether claims of sexual harassment are on the rise or not. Indeed, lost in the public discourse is a fact that isn’t talked about a lot:… Continue Reading
FAQ on Applying Performance Standards to Employees with Disabilities
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Highlight, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and Regulations, Manager & HR Pro’s Resource CenterAt the core of every employment relationship is the expectation that the employee will perform the job satisfactorily. But what happens to those performance expectations when an employee has a disability? As the federal government has acknowledged, The Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits “employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities, generally do[es] not impinge… Continue Reading
You’ve Got the “Look” But Do You Know the “Law”?
Posted in Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and RegulationsIn the retail and hospitality industries, employers sometimes are searching for that special “look” that can help define them. Abercrombie and Fitch is certainly one of those types of businesses, and you can think to various hotels, nightclubs or retail stores for other examples. But is it legal? That’s the subject of an interesting column… Continue Reading
What the Nation’s Lawyers Propose For Employment Law
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Legislative DevelopmentsWhen the ABA last visited Toronto in the 1990s for its annual meeting, cell phones and the Internet weren’t in heavy rotation. What a difference a decade makes. And, except for the mobile service providers who likely made thousands of dollars, it was a lot harder to connect than I anticipated. That, combined with a… Continue Reading
Passover & Easter: A Time to Reflect on Religious Discrimination Issues
Posted in Human Resources (HR) ComplianceWith Passover and Easter coming up this week, it seems timely to revisit the laws regarding religious discrimination and accommodation. Fortunately for you (and me), the Employment & Labor Insider just posted a terrific piece on the subject. Among the issues that the post flagsis the common situation of an employer who tries to decide… Continue Reading
It’s Snow Joke: EEOC Statistics Show Increasing Numbers of Retaliation Cases Filed, But Then What?
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Human Resources (HR) ComplianceNews flash: Record snows in Connecticut! Second news flash: Record numbers of people are out of work and filing complaints of discrimination at the EEOC nationwide! Here’s the thing with both news flashes: They’re not entirely unexpected. Sure, they’re in higher amounts than we’re accustomed to seeing, but both can be explained. (I’ll leave it… Continue Reading
Family Responsibilities Discrimination (FRD): The Next Big Field in Employment Law?
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and RegulationsYesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to the Fairfield County Bar Association on the burgeoning field of Family Responsibilities Discrimination (FRD, for short). It is also known at times as Caregiver Discrimination. In essence, it is a cross-disciplinary practice that looks as various statutes like Title VII, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, FMLA, ADA and… Continue Reading
“No Spanish Allowed” – Special Free Webinar on English-Only Rules On Wednesday
Posted in Human Resources (HR) ComplianceOur monthly free monthly webinar series continues on Wednesday, December 8th at noon EST with a unique program on whether employers can adopt English-only rules. You can register here to join us. This should be a terrific one-hour program that you can listen to during your lunch hour. Even if you’re not considering adopting… Continue Reading
EEOC Holds Public Hearing on Use of Credit Reports for Hiring
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Human Resources (HR) Compliance, Laws and RegulationsYesterday, the EEOC held a public hearing on the use of credit reports as a basis for making hiring and other employment-related decisions. Jon Hyman, of the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog, has an excellent recap of the discussion which I won’t attempt to duplicate here. Jon argues that it would be unfair to employers to prohibit… Continue Reading
Research: Employment Discrimination Cases Often Result in Only Small Victories for Some Employees
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & HarassmentAt the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Friday, there was a terrific panel discussion by various researchers who have been looking at discrimination cases brought at both the EEOC and in federal courts. The program was based on two academic articles over the last few years: One was written by Laura Beth Nielsen, Robert… Continue Reading
Guest Post: Statutes of Limitations in Discrimination Cases — When Is It Too Late for an Employee To Sue?
Posted in CHRO & EEOC, Discrimination & Harassment, Laws and Regulations, LitigationMy thanks to my colleague, Mick Lavelle, who has drafted the following post on a noteworthy issue decided today by the Connecticut Appellate Court. For employers with long-standing discrimination claims, it’s worth understanding what the statute of limitations are on such claims. Most employers know that claims of employment discrimination can be brought under two… Continue Reading
The Basics: What It Takes To File a Employment Discrimination Lawsuit
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationNewspapers this week seem enraptured with the idea that an employment discrimination lawsuit is news. It shouldn’t be. Why? Because all that a discrimination lawsuit is — by its fundamental nature — is a set of allegations against an employer. Nothing more, nothing less. That doesn’t mean, of course, that each lawsuit that is brought… Continue Reading
Privileged Gender Disparity Memo to Wal-Mart’s Attorneys Leaked to NY Times; What About the Self-Critical Analysis Privilege?
Posted in Discrimination & Harassment, LitigationToday, The New York Times reported on a privileged memo sent to Wal-Mart from its outside lawfirm back in 1995 that "found widespread gender disparities in pay and promotion at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores and urged the company to take basic steps — like posting every job opening and creating specific goals to promote… Continue Reading
About Daniel Schwartz
Trusted advisor. Experienced employment law attorney. Bar leader. Award-winning author. Noted Speaker. "Legal Rebel". All can be said to be apt descriptions of Daniel Schwartz, a member of Pullman & Comley. More +
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