The PWFA was designed to support pregnant workers. But when the EEOC included abortion in the mix, a federal court hit pause. TL;DR: A federal judge in Louisiana just struck down part of the EEOC’s new rules under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) that required employers to accommodate elective…
Flamethrower messages torpedo an ADA claim in this no-nonsense ruling from a federal appellate court. TL;DR: An adjunct professor accused her college of ADA discrimination after it declined to renew her contract. But the Second Circuit quickly dismissed her claims—thanks in no small part to her own emails, which read like…
If you’ve been staring at the words “EEO-1 Component 1” and thinking they sound like a rejected Star Wars droid, you’re not alone. But if you’re an HR pro at a private company with 100+ employees (or a federal contractor with 50+ employees and a contract over $50,000), you’ve got…
This isn’t a story about a rogue employee—it’s about the person running the show. TL;DR: The EEOC has filed a Title VII lawsuit against the owner of a hospitality group in Hawaii, alleging he subjected teenage and adult female employees to years of sexual harassment—much of it in front…
A Texas federal court has weighed in on how far the EEOC can go when interpreting Title VII. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go well for the EEOC. TL;DR: A Texas federal court just vacated the parts of the EEOC’s new harassment guidance that deal with gender identity. The judge held…
Fired Over $15. Or Was It the HR Complaints? A laundromat worker reimbursed herself $15 from the register for a taxi fare—something she claimed was standard practice with a receipt. Three days later, she was fired. But because she had just complained about racial harassment, disability discrimination, and unpaid wages,…
You’d expect a company to listen when its Chief People Officer—especially one with nearly three decades of labor and employment law experience—raises concerns about compliance. Instead, this employer—a law firm—reassigned her shortly thereafter and fired her within the week of returning from bereavement leave. A jury just awarded her $3.27…
A recent Fifth Circuit decision offers a pointed reminder to employers, litigators, and trial courts alike: enforcement authority has limits—even after a verdict. At the center of the controversy? A court-ordered “religious liberty training” imposed on a corporate defendant’s attorneys by a judge dissatisfied with how the company communicated a…
After months of legal gridlock, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is about to get its quorum back—and a Republican majority with it. TL;DR: President Trump has nominated Brittany Bull Panuccio to serve as the third commissioner on the EEOC. Her confirmation would restore the Commission’s quorum and create a 2–1…
A Black lecturer in his 70s says a fellow professor in his department regularly made racially charged remarks—not necessarily directed at him, but about Black colleagues more broadly. A federal judge says that could be enough to support a hostile work environment claim under Title VII. TL;DR: A federal court…