There is great rejoicing among federal contractors since a federal judge in Texas has preliminarily blocked the "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces" rules from going into effect. Absent the court's action, the rules would have taken effect for the largest contractors this past Tuesday, and for some smaller ones in 2017. The case is far from over, but this is a major interim victory ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is only the latest in a string of federal agencies who've been sued recently in an effort to stop their regulations from taking effect.

We have the two lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Labor challenging the overtime rule that is scheduled to take effect on December 1 (argument in those cases will be heard November 16), the lawsuit that ...

Being part of the "in" crowd with the FBI apparently does not protect you from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

To the contrary: It was an FBI contract that subjected a California-based technology company to an OFCCP review that has resulted in an administrative complaint.

Palantir Technologies is a large government contractor with more than $340 ...

UPDATE (10/25/16): They did, they did! Judge Marcia Crone has issued a preliminary injunction against the Rule, which blocks it from going into effect. She agreed with the plaintiffs on just about every point (although she declined to block the paycheck transparency provisions). Here is a copy of the Order.

Many federal contractors are on the verge of having to ...

The last Retailer of 2016 is out! With Black Friday approaching, Toby Dykes of our Birmingham Office has a great feature on crowd dynamics and OSHA's guidance on how retail employers can keep their employees safe during the busiest shopping season of the year.

We also have graphics showing retailers' projected earnings and hiring plans for the holidays, and "bite-size ...

I'm a week late with this follow-up. (Sorry.)

Two weeks ago, I posted about an employee (fictionally named "Zoey") who had a peanut allergy. After she asked a peanut-butter-loving co-worker ("Addison") to be considerate, Zoey found a big glob of peanut butter smeared under her desk, which caused her to get sick. Addison denied being responsible.

To recap from last time:

*I said I ...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has delayed for a second time the enforcement date of its new "Reasonable Reporting Procedure" rule as it pertains to post-accident drug testing and safety incentive programs. The new enforcement date for the rule is December 1.

The rule was scheduled to take effect on August 10, and then OSHA extended the ...

DISCLAIMER: The Boss in this blog post is fictional. Any similarity to actual bosses, living or dead, is purely coincidental. No bosses were harmed in the writing of this post. If you'd prefer something warmer and fuzzier, try this.

Hey, Underling:

On this Monday, October 17, 2016, I thought it would be an opportune time to let you know that your efforts are appreciated!

You ...

In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, 23 North Carolina counties have been approved to receive federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance. Gov. Pat McCrory has directed the state Department of Employment Security not to enforce the one-week waiting period that normally applies to unemployment claims.

The eligible counties are as follows: Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Columbus ...

As we knew it would, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has appealed the decision of Judge Sean Cox, who granted summary judgment to a Detroit-area funeral home chain in a transgender discrimination case. Here is my analysis of Judge Cox's decision.

The case will go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which hears appeals from federal courts in Kentucky ...

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has vacated Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, which found that Title VII did not protect against sexual orientation discrimination. I wrote about the decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit, in August. The court will rehear the case with all of the judges participating.

Here is a copy of the order.

Ms ...

Or is it loved as much as ever, as long as it doesn't cost employees money?

Interesting questions are raised by a study conducted and recently published by Alexandre Mas, a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at at Princeton University, and Amanda Pallais, a Paul Sack Associate Professor of Political Economy and Social Studies at Harvard University.

The professors conducted a ...

NOTE FROM ROBIN: This is another post from our Public Sector Industry Group. Welcome, Ray!

During this election season, we thought it would be timely to bring up what are commonly referred to as “resign to run” laws.  So-called "resign to run" laws require that before an elected official may run for a different (usually, higher) office, he or she must first resign from the current ...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment in construction and extraction occupations will grow 10 percent from 2014 to 2024 - increasing from 6.5 million to 7.2 million jobs - the biggest increase in any industry. As a result, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which is responsible for ensuring that contractors meet their affirmative action ...

Roberts v. Clark County (NV) School District involved a female-to-male transgender police officer. Although the School District later changed its policy, when Bradley Roberts first told the District in 2011 that he was presenting as a male, he was told that he could not use the men's room until he submitted proof of gender reassignment surgery. But he wasn't allowed to use the ...

Karla Miller of the "WorkAdvice" column in the Washington Post had a doozy last week.

I'm going to assume that all the people involved in this story are female. I'm probably wrong, but that will allow me to make up fake names for them.

PEANUT BUTTER PASSION

The letter writer (let's call her Zoey), had a peanut allergy and worked in a small office. Zoey asked a co-worker (let's call her ...

Onionhead is this incredibly pure, wise and adorable character who teaches us how to name it - claim it - tame it - aim it. He wants everyone to know how they feel and then know what to do with those feelings. He helps us direct our emotions in a truthful and compassionate way, which in turn assists us to communicate more appropriately and peacefully. We then approach life from a place of our ...

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced last week that it would indeed require all employers with 100 or more employees to file EEO-1 reports that contain compensation data by EEO category, race, ethnicity, and sex. The first compensation reports will be due March 31, 2018, for a "snapshot" period that will run from October 1 through December 31, 2017. (There will be no ...

For better or worse, it won't be much longer before the 2016 election is over. In honor (?) of the occasion, we've updated our Employer's Guide to Employee Voting Rights, and it's available now on our website -- both in html and as a (free) downloadable and printable pdf.

The Guide covers time-off-for-voting laws, employer rights, and employees' rights (if any) against coercion or ...

According to a study recently published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, there are indications that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is not effective in stopping discrimination.

But before contractors get excited, they'd better take a look at the reasons. According to the GAO study, the OFCCP doesn't focus its efforts at those ...

*A happy new year!