This week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a proposed Enforcement Guidance on workplace harassment. It's 75 pages long, so a little too much to cover in a single blog post. The EEOC is seeking comments from the public until February 9, so I will start with the comment-worthy provisions. Next week, I'll post about the proposed Guidance more generally. Overall, the ...

Feeling whipsawed?

Last summer, I reported on the Hively v. Ivy Tech decision, in which a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation is not "sex discrimination" or unlawful sex stereotyping that violates Title VII. That decision has since been vacated, and the case will be heard again on November 30 by ...

NOTE FROM ROBIN: This is the first in a two-part series on the law regarding patronage dismissals in public sector employment by Damon Kitchen, head of our public sector industry group. Damon, welcome to the blog! 

It’s election season, and each year, like the dead leaves that fall from the trees, many loyal and long-term employees of vanquished incumbents face the prospect of getting ...

UPDATE (10/17/16): As expected, the EEOC has appealed the District Court's decision described below to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Last week, I reported that summary judgment was granted against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its transgender discrimination lawsuit against R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, linked to the decision (but here it is ...

As of October 1, “places of public accommodation” in Massachusetts will be prohibited from discriminating based on gender identity. That is, persons accessing a “place of public accommodation” must be permitted to use gender-segregated locations (such as restrooms and locker rooms) consistent with their gender identity. Any place that is open to and accepts or solicits ...

UPDATE (10/14/16): The Hively decision discussed below was issued by a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit. This week, the full Seventh Circuit set aside the decision and agreed to rehear the case with all of the judges participating. Here is a copy of the order. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided last week in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College that sexual ...

Just how much of a duty to conciliate does the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have after the Supreme Court's decision last year in Mach Mining

Hardly any, it appears.

In Mach Mining, the Supreme Court decided that courts did have the authority to review the agency's conciliation efforts (which caused employers to claim it as an "employer's victory") but said that the scope of ...

The Spring 2016 edition features (in order of appearance) Naveen Kabir on the Supreme Court's Tyson Foods decision, Anna Rothschild on the Supreme Court after Justice Scalia and Merrick Garland's record on labor and employment cases, Mallory Schneider Ricci on the Supreme Court's CRST Van Expedited v. EEOC decision (if you haven't already, please check out Marcia McShane's very ...

Bill McMahon, my law partner and next-door neighbor, has a good analysis of the Supreme Court's recent decision in Green v. Brennan, in which the Court found that the time for filing a constructive discharge claim under Title VII starts to run from the date that the employee tenders his resignation, not the date of the last discriminatory act by the employer.

It's not that bad for ...

I admit it.  I have a crush on Justice Thomas.  Today’s unanimous Supreme Court opinion in CRST Van Expedited, Inc. v. EEOC – holding that a merit-based dismissal is not necessary for a defendant to qualify as the “prevailing party” in a Title VII case – would make any employment defense lawyer’s heart skip a beat.

But the majority opinion is not what caused me to swoon. Justice ...