Happy Labor Day Weekend, y’all!

The month of August was not kind to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC’s wellness regulations were shot down by a federal court in the District of Columbia, and earlier this week the agency was told that it could not require employers to report compensation data on the new EEO-1 Reports.

But the EEOC also scored a big ...

Louise Davies is an Affirmative Action Paralegal in Constangy’s Winston-Salem, North Carolina, office. For more than 15 years, she has helped employers develop affirmative action plans and respond to audits and on-site investigations by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. She also conducts diversity training for employers. Louise is a graduate of Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.

In February 2016, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs filed an administrative complaint against B&H Foto, the largest non-chain photo and video equipment store in the United States. The Complaint alleged that B&H had discriminated against female, black, and Asian jobseekers by hiring only Hispanic men for entry-level positions.  The OFCCP also alleged that Hispanic employees were harassed, paid less than similarly situated workers, and denied promotions because of their ethnicity.

The agency and the company recently entered into a consent decree, in which B&H agreed to pay $3.22 million in back wages to more than 1,300 affected class members. The company has also agreed to hire a workplace consultant to address its employment practices and workplace conduct. In addition, the company must provide its managers with annual training on EEO principles and on workplace harassment.

By agreeing to the consent decree, the company did not admit any guilt or wrongdoing. The company released a statement denying all of the allegations, but recognizing that litigation would be costly and resolution would allow it to return to business “as usual” with the government.

NOTE FROM ROBIN: Last night, I posted briefly that the EEOC’s requirement, starting next March 31, that employers include compensation data in their annual EEO-1 reports had been suspended. We now have more information, and I have drafted a client bulletin that will go out this afternoon. Because the blog subscription and bulletin subscription lists are not identical, I’m ...

The beginning of July conjures many images for Americans – barbecues, picnics, fireworks.  But for many employers, July also triggered preparation for the annual EEO-1 Report filing.  Until this year, covered employers were required to file their reports no later than September 30, and the data submitted had to be from any pay period in July, August, or September.

But in 2016, the Equal ...

The hearing on the lawsuit filed by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs against Google concluded on Friday, May 26, in San Francisco. As I’ve reported here, here, and here, the OFCCP is seeking historical pay data as well as names and contact information of approximately 21,000 employees.

The OFCCP believes that Google has “systemic compensation disparities ...

Yesterday, the Trump Administration released its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2018, which runs from October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2018. Here are the highlights related to labor and employment law, and there are a BUNCH. The following is a compilation of a number of articles published in yesterday's edition of Bloomberg BNA's Daily Labor ...

*Donnybrook: Named for the Donnybrook Fair near Dublin, "a notoriously disorderly event, held annually from 1204 until the middle of the 19th century." Meaning a "free-for-all; brawl; a usually public quarrel or dispute."

I promised earlier this month to have more detail about that decision by an Administrative Law Judge in the case filed against Google by the Office of Federal ...

A number of studies are showing that most, if not all, of the gender pay gap is explained by personal choices made by men and women. But how can employers protect themselves from claims of discrimination?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, in 2015, women working full-time had median earnings that were 81 percent of the median earnings of their male counterparts. That is ...

I posted in January about a lawsuit filed by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs against Google, seeking to force Google to provide detailed information about its equal employment practices and affirmative action program, including compensation information. Google had already provided some information to the OFCCP but contended the information that it withheld ...

Lots going on in the Northeast these days!

From Massachusetts, Connor Cobean of our Boston Office has a discussion of a state Superior Court decision that allows employees to sue for back wages and treble damages if their employers violate the Sunday blue laws. (Employers covered by the blue laws have to pay time and a half to non-exempt employees who work on Sunday.)

And the New York ...