On June 14, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the argument that a university should be entitled to special academic deference in employment discrimination claims concerning denial of tenure brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). Mawakana v. Bd. Of Trustees of the Univ. of the Dist. Of Columbia, No. 18-7059 (D.C. Cir. June 14, 2019). In Mawakana, an African…

We previously reported here that in April of this year, a federal judge set September 30, 2019 as the deadline for covered employers (i.e., having at least 100 employees) to submit pay data in Component 2 of their EEO-1 reports. This month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) posted its online filing portal to be used for Component 2 data submissions, which is a different portal than that used for Component 1 submissions. This portal…

Although it has been more than a month since a federal district court judge ordered the reinstatement of a controversial EEO-1 pay data reporting rule, it is still unclear when employers will need to comply. Employers subject to EEO-1 reporting requirements—including employers with 100 or more employees and employers with 50 or more employees and a federal contract or subcontracting amounting to at least $50,000—should stay tuned for updates on this matter as they may…

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) – the Department of Labor office responsible for overseeing federal contractors’ and subcontractors’ equal employment opportunity and affirmative action obligations – was very active in 2018. Led by new Director Craig Leen, who served as acting director of the agency until December 2018, OFCCP issued 12 new directives. Many of these directives suggest that OFCCP is moving in a direction intended to improve transparency, efficiency, and cooperation…

Effectively immediately, employers who perform background checks on applicants or employees using third party consumer reporting agencies (these background checks are known as “consumer reports”) need to update their background check paperwork under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) by replacing their old “Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act” forms with a new, revised version, available here. The new version of the form includes information regarding an individual’s right to…

Employers and employees entering into separation or settlement agreements have traditionally agreed to nondisclosure clauses that prohibit disclosure of the agreement or the circumstances leading to its execution. Although these clauses have not previously been subject to much controversy and considered to provide valuable closure for employer and employee, the #MeToo movement has generated much criticism of such clauses when related to allegations of sexual harassment, arguing they have the detrimental effects of silencing victims…

Employers and employees entering into separation or settlement agreements have traditionally agreed to nondisclosure clauses that prohibit disclosure of the agreement or the circumstances leading to its execution. Although these clauses have not previously been subject to much controversy and considered to provide valuable closure for employer and employee, the #MeToo movement has generated much criticism of such clauses when related to allegations of sexual harassment, arguing they have the detrimental effects of silencing victims…