Read the official statement here.
Related content:
- Sex, race, disability claims remain EEOC's chief focus (Houston Chronicle - requires paid subscription)
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
EEOC Issues a Statement by Chair Jenny R. Yang to Address Workplace Discrimination Against Individuals Who Are, or Are Perceived to Be, Muslim or Middle Eastern
WASHINGTON -- In the wake of tragic events at home and abroad, EEOC urges employers and employees to be particularly mindful of instances of harassment, intimidation, or discrimination in the workplace against vulnerable communities.
Read the official statement here.
Read the official statement here.
Hillshire Brands Company Pays $4 Million to Settle Race Discrimination Suit
African American Bakery Workers Subjected to Racist Comments and Graffiti in the Worksite, Federal Agency Charged
DALLAS - Hillshire Brands Company (formerly known as the Sara Lee Corporation) will pay $4 million to a group of 74 African-American former employees and provide other significant relief to settle a lawsuit where they were subjected to a racially hostile work environment at a former Sara Lee facility in Paris, Texas, the agency announced today.
Read the story here.
DALLAS - Hillshire Brands Company (formerly known as the Sara Lee Corporation) will pay $4 million to a group of 74 African-American former employees and provide other significant relief to settle a lawsuit where they were subjected to a racially hostile work environment at a former Sara Lee facility in Paris, Texas, the agency announced today.
Read the story here.
EEOC’S Lawsuit Against Costco to Proceed
Court Denies Warehouse Retailer's Attempts to Avoid Trial on Allegations Store Failed to Stop Customer from Stalking and Harassing Employee
CHICAGO - A federal district court judge ruled that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) claim that Costco violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to prevent a male customer from stalking and harassing a female employee at the company's Glenview, Ill. warehouse will be decided by a jury.
Read the story here.
CHICAGO - A federal district court judge ruled that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) claim that Costco violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to prevent a male customer from stalking and harassing a female employee at the company's Glenview, Ill. warehouse will be decided by a jury.
Read the story here.
Confederate Flags in the Workplace: How Should an Employer Respond?
Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, Lexology
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has taken the position that Confederate flag displays in the workplace constitute evidence of a racially hostile work environment; some courts (but not all) have agreed. In light of these developments and the public debates regarding the Confederate flag and other (potentially) offensive symbols, how should an employer respond?
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Historians debate the value and place for Confederate monuments and other symbols (Inside Higher Ed)
- Removing Racist Symbols Isn’t a Denial of History (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
Criminal Background Checks Screen College Applicants
More than half of American colleges and universities are using criminal background checks to screen applicants, potentially affecting college aid and tax credits.
By Nathalie Baptiste, The American Prospect
The usual college application includes SAT scores, high school transcripts, and essays, but many high school students may not realize that more than half of colleges also use another, more secretive form of screening: a criminal background check.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Removing Barriers to Opportunity for Parents With Criminal Records and Their Children (Center for American Progress)
Taking Too Long to Accommodate Disabled Employee Can Be Fatal to Summary Judgment
Fenwick & West LLP, Lexology
In Gupta v. IBM, a high-level IBM employee sought accommodations for his back problems, including business-class air travel and special ergonomic furniture. IBM complied with the travel request, but took over 3.5 months to process the furniture request, by which point Gupta had already been selected for retirement during a larger layoff process. Gupta filed suit in California state court, alleging disability discrimination, failure to engage in the interactive process, and failure to accommodate. The court denied IBM’s motion to dismiss the failure to engage in the interactive process and failure to accommodate claims because questions of fact remained as to whether IBM delayed the implementation of the new furniture. The Court was unpersuaded by IBM’s argument that the “routine processing” of an accommodation by a large corporation will take some time, and concluded that a jury must assess the lawfulness of IBM’s actions.
In Gupta v. IBM, a high-level IBM employee sought accommodations for his back problems, including business-class air travel and special ergonomic furniture. IBM complied with the travel request, but took over 3.5 months to process the furniture request, by which point Gupta had already been selected for retirement during a larger layoff process. Gupta filed suit in California state court, alleging disability discrimination, failure to engage in the interactive process, and failure to accommodate. The court denied IBM’s motion to dismiss the failure to engage in the interactive process and failure to accommodate claims because questions of fact remained as to whether IBM delayed the implementation of the new furniture. The Court was unpersuaded by IBM’s argument that the “routine processing” of an accommodation by a large corporation will take some time, and concluded that a jury must assess the lawfulness of IBM’s actions.
Read the story here.
Chicago Public Schools settle civil rights lawsuit from pregnant teachers
Aamer Madhani, USA Today
CHICAGO — The Justice Department announced Wednesday it has reached a settlement with the nation's third-largest school system over allegations that it discriminated against pregnant teachers and new mothers in violation of federal law.
Read the story here.
CHICAGO — The Justice Department announced Wednesday it has reached a settlement with the nation's third-largest school system over allegations that it discriminated against pregnant teachers and new mothers in violation of federal law.
Read the story here.
How Does a College Get an Exemption From Title IX?
By Eric Kelderman, The Chronicle of Higher Education
The federal gender-equity law known as Title IX has largely become known for two issues in higher education: requiring equity in opportunities for women in college sports and, more recently, a nationwide wave of demands for colleges to crack down on sexual harassment and rape.
Read the story here.
The federal gender-equity law known as Title IX has largely become known for two issues in higher education: requiring equity in opportunities for women in college sports and, more recently, a nationwide wave of demands for colleges to crack down on sexual harassment and rape.
Read the story here.
Title IX Covers Bias Based on Sexual Orientation, Judge Rules
The Chronicle on Higher Education
A federal judge in California has ruled that the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX covers discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, finding that such bias falls under the law’s ban on sex- and gender-based discrimination.
A federal judge in California has ruled that the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX covers discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, finding that such bias falls under the law’s ban on sex- and gender-based discrimination.
Read the story here.
Holtzclaw Case & Rape Culture on College Campuses
By Amalia Dache-Gerbino and Ifeyinwa Onyenekwu, Diverse Isuses in Higher Education
As Black women faculty who have watched and shared with students the 2015 film The Hunting Ground, which exposed rape culture and crimes on U.S. college campuses, we are appalled at the lack of attention the case of serial rapist Officer Daniel Holtzclaw has received by the national and higher education media. Officer Holtzclaw raped and assaulted 13 Black women who range in ages from 17 to 58 and received a 263-year sentence. As we rejoice on this verdict, we must ask: Is the rape of 13 Black women not a social justice issue? What does the Daniel Holtzclaw case tell us about racist, sexist silence on college campuses?
Read the story here.
Related content:
- African American Policy Forum Demands Justice for Holtzclaw Survivors (The Root)
- How Police Caught The Cop Who Allegedly Sexually Abused Black Women (BuzzFeed)
- Victims describe assaults by convicted ex-Oklahoma City cop Daniel Holtzclaw (CNN)
- How Title IX Failed These Black Women Who Spoke Out About Their Rape Allegations (The Huffington Post)
- Another Challenge on Campus Sexual Assault: Getting Minority Students to Report It (AACRAO)
- Why are black women less likely to report rape? (City Paper)
U. of North Dakota Dean Resigns After Complaints About Treatment of Women
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The dean of the University of North Dakota’s College of Education and Human Development will resign his deanship and his tenured position following complaints about unwelcome remarks toward women.
The dean of the University of North Dakota’s College of Education and Human Development will resign his deanship and his tenured position following complaints about unwelcome remarks toward women.
Read the story here.
Most New York City Elementary Schools Are Violating Disabilities Act, Investigation Finds
By Bejnamin Weiser, The New York Times
A two-year federal investigation has concluded that 83 percent of New York City’s public elementary schools are not “fully accessible” to children with disabilities, in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
A two-year federal investigation has concluded that 83 percent of New York City’s public elementary schools are not “fully accessible” to children with disabilities, in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Read the story here.
Israel: Government approves affirmative action for haredi men and women in civil service
By Jeremy Sharon, The Jersualem Post
The government on Sunday approved a decision to accelerate the integration of haredi men and women into the state civil service, following recommendations from Periphery Minister and Shas head Arye Deri and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Read the story here.
The government on Sunday approved a decision to accelerate the integration of haredi men and women into the state civil service, following recommendations from Periphery Minister and Shas head Arye Deri and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Read the story here.
Daisy Elliott, Detroiter behind Michigan civil rights law, dies
By Mark Hicks and Chad Livengood, The Detroit News
Daisy Elliott, an African-American civil rights advocate and former Michigan representative who helped push through a landmark law aimed at protecting against racial bias as well as other forms of discrimination, has died at age 98, friends and family announced late Tuesday.
Daisy Elliott, an African-American civil rights advocate and former Michigan representative who helped push through a landmark law aimed at protecting against racial bias as well as other forms of discrimination, has died at age 98, friends and family announced late Tuesday.
Read the story here.
Longtime civil rights activist Ozell Sutton dead at 90
Mark Davis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ozell Sutton, a longtime civil rights activist who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died Saturday. He was 90.
Ozell Sutton, a longtime civil rights activist who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died Saturday. He was 90.
Sutton, friends said, may have been one of the most unknown of a cadre of influential civil rights workers.
In 1957, in the early, unsettled days of school desegregation, he helped enroll nine African-American students at Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. In 1965, he marched for equal rights in Selma, Ala., confronting angry police. Three years later, in 1968, he was in a Memphis hotel room adjacent to King’s when the minister was assassinated.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Civil rights activist, Martin Luther King ally Ozell Sutton dies aged 90 (The Associated Press)
- Civil-rights leader, Arkansas native Ozell Sutton dies at 90 (Arkansas Online)
For military women, equal opportunity, equal obligation
Equal opportunity requires more than a formal change in policy, and challenges remain.
USA Today
USA Today
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s historic decision this month to throw open all combat jobs to women marked both the fall of a discriminatory barrier and the recognition of reality.
Read the story here.
Monday, December 21, 2015
New York Sheet Metal Workers Case Highlights Persistence of Workplace Discrimination
By Rachel L. Swarns, The New York Times
The black, white and Hispanic craftsmen toil amid the bones of New York City’s unfinished office towers, threading air-conditioning ducts through ragged walls and ceilings, guiding the gleaming metal tubes from one set of hands to another.
Read the story here.
The black, white and Hispanic craftsmen toil amid the bones of New York City’s unfinished office towers, threading air-conditioning ducts through ragged walls and ceilings, guiding the gleaming metal tubes from one set of hands to another.
Read the story here.
Walter J. Leonard, architect of Harvard affirmative action plan, dies
By Matt Schudel, The Washington Post
Walter J. Leonard, a Harvard University administrator who was instrumental in devising one of the country’s earliest and most effective affirmative action programs, which became a model for other universities around the country, and who later served as a college president in Tennessee, died Dec. 8 at a retirement facility in Kensington, Md. He was 86.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Walter Leonard, champion of diversity in higher education: 1929 – 2015 (Harvard Law School)
- Walter J. Leonard, Pioneer of Affirmative Action in Harvard Admissions, Dies at 86 (The New York Times)
- Architect of affirmative action at Harvard dies at 86 (Boston Globe)
- Walter Leonard, Pioneer Of Affirmative Action At Harvard, Dies At 86 (NPR)
- Walter Leonard, attorney who created Harvard affirmative-action policy, dies aged 86 (The Associated Press)
California and Michigan: Don't Ban Affirmative Action
George E. Curry
WASHINGTON - If you want to know what the University of Texas student body would like if the Supreme Court invalidates the institution's affirmative action admissions program now under judicial review, look no farther than Michigan and California.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Academe Must Confront Its Racist Past (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Why affirmative action matters in the larger social and racial justice movement: An Asian American perspective (Huffington Post)
- Diversity Matters: Why American Universities Need Affirmative Action (Essence)
- Area colleges defend affirmative action practices (Boston Globe)
- The Real Reason Affirmative Action Is in Danger (National Journal)
- Scalia made headlines. But the real story is how colleges have failed to truly integrate (The Washington Post)
- 5 Things To Know About The Woman Whose Case Could End Affirmative Action As We Know It (Huffington Post)
US Labor Department sues Convergys for refusing to comply with investigation of employment practices
Complaint asks judge to order cooperation or ban company from federal contracting
ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit to require Cincinnati-based Convergys Customer Management Group Inc. to submit documents detailing the federal contractor’s affirmative action plans and supporting documents for company facilities in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
Read the press release here.
ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit to require Cincinnati-based Convergys Customer Management Group Inc. to submit documents detailing the federal contractor’s affirmative action plans and supporting documents for company facilities in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
Read the press release here.
Tepro, Inc. To Pay $600,000 to Settle EEOC Age Discrimination Suit
Company Laid Off Older Employees Based on Their Age, Federal Agency Charged
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Tepro, Inc., a manufacturer of rubber products for the automotive industry, will pay $600,000 and provide other relief to settle a class age discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
Read the story here.
Why tech companies support affirmative action
By Katie Lobosco, CNN
Some big companies are making the case for affirmative action as the Supreme Court hears arguments on the issue Wednesday.
Tech giants IBM and Intel, as well as chemical maker DuPont, say that colleges and universities should be allowed to consider race when admitting students as a way to increase diversity.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Universities Collaborate to Attract Females, Other Minorities to STEM (U.S. News & World Report)
Non-U.S. Citizen’s Discrimination And Retaliation Claims Against Bank Survive Dismissal
Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP, Lexology
On November 5th, the Southern District of Florida refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed against JP Morgan Chase Bank by one of its former bank tellers. The plaintiff, a Brazilian citizen, alleged the Bank violated anti-discrimination and retaliation laws under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. He complained the Bank treated him differently than U.S. citizens and non-Brazilian employees and then fired him after he reported alleged discrimination against both him and the Bank’s non-U.S. citizen clients.
Read the story here.
Philadelphia Expands the Reach of Its ‘Ban the Box’ Ordinance
Greenberg Traurig LLP, Lexology
On Dec. 15, 2015, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter amended the city’s current “ban the box” law to expand the number of employers it covers and increase restrictions on the use of criminal background checks during the hiring process. The amendments take effect in just 90 days and make several noteworthy changes to the city’s original Fair Criminal Screening Standards Ordinance enacted in 2012.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Ban the Box Update Round Up: Portland, Philadelphia and New Jersey (Proskauer Rose LLP)
- New York City ‘ban the box’ law restricts employers’ use of criminal history (Loeb & Loeb LLP)
- New York City Joins a Growing Chorus of Cities and States that Believe in Second Chances: What Does the New “Ban the Box” Legislation Mean for NYC Employers? (Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP)
- New Jersey Advances Bill to Ban Most Employee Credit Checks (Ogletree Deakins)
- New Jersey Adopts Ban-the-Box Regulations (Epstein Becker Green)
- ’Tis the Season for New Jersey CEPA and Gender Equity Notices (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
- New Jersey Issues New Ban-the-Box Regulations (Jackson Lewis PC)
- New Jersey and Philadelphia Ban-the-Box Legislative Update (Winston & Strawn LLP)
- Philadelphia Significantly Expands Its “Ban the Box” Ordinance (Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP)
- Ban the Box 2.0: Philadelphia Upgrades Its Fair Criminal Records Screening Standards Ordinance (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
- Philadelphia Expands Ban-the-Box Legislation (Jackson Lewis PC)
- Philadelphia Shows Brotherly Love for Ex-Felons Seeking Jobs (Baker & Hostetler LLP)
- Beyond “Ban the Box” - Philadelphia Makes Sweeping Changes to Criminal Records Screening Ordinance (Littler Mendelson)
Signal International, LLC to Pay $5 Million to Settle EEOC Race, National Origin Lawsuit
Ship Building and Repair Company Subjected Indian Guest Workers to Adverse Living and Working Conditions
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Signal International, LLC, a Mobile, Ala. ship building and repair company, will pay an estimated $5 million to 476 Indian guest workers to settle a race and national origin discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
Read the press release here.
Male minister who won’t wear makeup sues for religious bias
Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete LLP, Lexology
As I’ve previously reported here, here, here, and here, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has a high-profile gender-stereotyping lawsuit going on against an area funeral home chain based on its discharge of a transgender employee. The funeral home is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a traditional-values public interest firm, so it is shaping up to be a real donnybrook.
Boy, the Detroit area seems to be in the front lines for the gender-identity wars.
As I’ve previously reported here, here, here, and here, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has a high-profile gender-stereotyping lawsuit going on against an area funeral home chain based on its discharge of a transgender employee. The funeral home is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a traditional-values public interest firm, so it is shaping up to be a real donnybrook.
Read the story here.
Related content:
Related content:
- Lawsuit: He drew the line at lipstick, fake eyelashes (Detroit Free Press)
OFCCP Publishes New FAQs on Veterans Infographic
Jackson Lewis PC, Lexology
In August 2015, OFCCP released an infographic designed to assist veterans understand whether or not they were covered under the protections of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) for affirmative action purposes. The infographic spawned recent discussions surrounding the implications and interpretations of OFCCP’s definition of a protected veteran.
Read the story here.
University of Michigan regents OK building $10M multicultural center
Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News
Ann Arbor — A new $10 million multicultural center is coming soon to the heart of the University of Michigan campus, following approval on Thursday by the Board of Regents.
Ann Arbor — A new $10 million multicultural center is coming soon to the heart of the University of Michigan campus, following approval on Thursday by the Board of Regents.
The center is a response to one of seven points the Black Student Union and UM agreed to in 2014 as a way of increasing black enrollment and improving the campus climate for minority students. Black students make up less than 5 percent of the student body at UM.
Read the story here.
Click here to read the official press release from the University of Michigan.
Black CEO Talks About Diversity, is Called Racist
By Kaitlyn D’Onofrio, Diversity Inc.
Sam’s Club CEO Rosalind Brewer has received backlash after acknowledging corporate America’s very real struggle with diversity.
Sam’s Club CEO Rosalind Brewer has received backlash after acknowledging corporate America’s very real struggle with diversity.
The part of the interview that has been slammed by the media was when Brewer shared a story about a meeting with a supplier — a meeting that exemplified the inequality at the top.
Read the story here.
Wheaton College says view of Islam, not hijab, got Christian teacher suspended
Wheaton college suspends professor wearing hijab to support Muslims — for her explanation, not the act.
By Manya Brachear Pashman and Marwa Eltagouri, Chicago Tribune
By Manya Brachear Pashman and Marwa Eltagouri, Chicago Tribune
If Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins had simply donned a headscarf to support her Muslim neighbors without explaining herself, she still might be administering final exams this week.
Instead, Hawkins, a tenured political science professor at the private evangelical Christian college, proclaimed on social media that Christians and Muslims share the same God and was suspended by the college.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Former Wheaton Professor Who Wore Hijab Will Join UVa Faculty (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Larycia Hawkins to join the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture
Black parents protest charge for teen tossed from desk
Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A group of black parents and civil rights activists presented a petition Thursday calling for officials to drop charges against a 16-year-old South Carolina high school student who was videotaped being yanked from her desk and thrown to the floor by a police officer in her classroom.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A group of black parents and civil rights activists presented a petition Thursday calling for officials to drop charges against a 16-year-old South Carolina high school student who was videotaped being yanked from her desk and thrown to the floor by a police officer in her classroom.
Read the story here.
Related content:
Waivers Allowing Christian Schools To Ban LGBT Students Spike In 2015
Dominic Holden, BuzzFeed
Under President Bill Clinton, 10 universities applied. Under President George W. Bush, two schools sent applications. And during the first few years of President Barack Obama’s term, there were none.
But within the past few years, according to records the U.S. Department of Education provided to BuzzFeed News, 60 religious universities have applied for exemptions from a 1972 federal law that bans publicly funded schools from discriminating on the basis of sex in regards to hiring, admissions, and other issues.
Read the story here.
Related content:
Under President Bill Clinton, 10 universities applied. Under President George W. Bush, two schools sent applications. And during the first few years of President Barack Obama’s term, there were none.
But within the past few years, according to records the U.S. Department of Education provided to BuzzFeed News, 60 religious universities have applied for exemptions from a 1972 federal law that bans publicly funded schools from discriminating on the basis of sex in regards to hiring, admissions, and other issues.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Title IX Waivers Used to Discriminate Against LGBT Students (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- Education Department Urged to Publicize Title IX Exemptions Granted to Religious Colleges (Inside Higher Ed)
- Dishonor Roll ― The Schools that Sought Exemptions To Legally Discriminate Against LGBT Students (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- More colleges seek exemption from LGBT anti-bias rules, rights group says (Reuters)
Is 2015 the tipping point for women and minorities in Hollywood?
By Rebecca Keegan, The Los Angeles Times
In a recent interview, Mike De Luca, the prominent producer of "The Social Network" and "Fifty Shades of Grey," wondered aloud something that shocked me in its openness and introspection: "Do I seek out other white men?"
Read the story here.Related content:
- Hollywood Projects Stunning Lack of Diversity (Diversity Inc.)
Increase in quota alone will not empower women: HRCP
Daily Times
ISLAMABAD: As invaluable as affirmative action, including job quotas and reserved seats in the legislature, for women could be, empowerment for women was impossible in the absence of effective and across the board implementation of the quota regime and ensuring land rights for them.
Read the story here.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Job Ad at University of Louisville Raises Questions about Considering Race in Faculty Hires
By Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed
Many colleges want more ethnically and racially diverse faculty members. But should searches be limited to underrepresented groups? One university just tried.
Even before the recent, widespread student protests over campus climate issues, many colleges and universities were working to make their faculties more diverse. But can a department specifically reserve a position for an underrepresented minority candidate? That’s what some are asking after a job ad for an assistant professorship reserved for nonwhite, non-Asian Ph.D.s was abruptly deleted from a jobs site on Tuesday.
Read the story here.
Monday, December 14, 2015
Many Bases of Discrimination Can Lead to Harassment, Panel of Experts Tells EEOC Task Force
Innovative Uses of Social Media Can Spread Awareness of Problem, Raise Specific Complaints, and Help to Change Social Norms, Practitioners Say
WASHINGTON-The bases of workplace harassment extend beyond sex and race to include age, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity, a panel of experts told the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace (STF) in a public meeting held yesterday. A second panel told the STF how the creative use of social media can spread an anti-harassment message, especially among millennials, or give a platform for workers to bring complaints to public attention.
WASHINGTON-The bases of workplace harassment extend beyond sex and race to include age, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity, a panel of experts told the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace (STF) in a public meeting held yesterday. A second panel told the STF how the creative use of social media can spread an anti-harassment message, especially among millennials, or give a platform for workers to bring complaints to public attention.
Read the press release here.
Related content:
- The Times They Are A-Changing: EEOC Task Force Focuses on Evolving Harassment in the Workplace and New Ways to Combat It (Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC)
US Labor Department alleges hiring discrimination by Indiana federal contractor that manufactures portable military meals
Complaint seeks back wages, 27 job offers for male victims
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — A federal contractor that manufactures portable meals for the U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies discriminated systematically against qualified men seeking entry-level production jobs, the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs alleges in a lawsuit filed today.
Read the story here.
Court Finds Promotional Tests Violate Title VII
Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Lexology
In Bruce Smith, et al. v. City of Boston, Case No. 12-CV-10291 (D. Mass. Nov. 16, 2015), Judge Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts held that the City of Boston Police Department’s (the “Department”) lieutenant-selection process — ranking candidates for promotion based on their scores on a facially neutral exam administered in 2008 (“2008 exam”) — had a racially disparate impact and was not sufficiently job-related to survive scrutiny under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Read the story here.
Mayflower Seafood of Goldsboro, Inc. Sued By EEOC for Sexual Harassment and Retaliation
Female Employee Subjected to Unwanted Sexual Touching, Comments by Male Employees, Then Reduced Work Hours for Complaining About Harassment, Federal Agency Charges
RALEIGH, N.C. - Mayflower Seafood of Goldsboro, Inc., violated federal law by subjecting a female employee to a sexually hostile work environment and retaliating against her after she complained about the harassment and filed criminal charges against the harassers, the agency charged in a lawsuit filed today.
RALEIGH, N.C. - Mayflower Seafood of Goldsboro, Inc., violated federal law by subjecting a female employee to a sexually hostile work environment and retaliating against her after she complained about the harassment and filed criminal charges against the harassers, the agency charged in a lawsuit filed today.
Read the press release here.
What You Should Know About EEOC and the Enforcement Protections for LGBT Workers
Recent activities by EEOC, including the filing of lawsuits on behalf of transgender employees, the filing of amicus briefs related to coverage of sexual orientation and transgender status, and the issuance of federal sector decisions in these areas, have triggered increased interest about protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals under federal employment-discrimination laws. The information below highlights what you should know about the EEOC's enforcement efforts on behalf of LGBT individuals.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Don’t Call a Transgender Employee “It” (Barnes & Thornburg LLP)
- College Basketball Players Can Bring Sexual Orientation Claim Under Federal Law, And Why Employers Should Pay Attention (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
- Was an Alabama court the first in the nation to recognize sexual orientation discrimination under Title VII? (Sirote & Permutt PC)
Female Laundry Workers Receive $582,000 in Settlement of EEOC Sexual Harassment Case
Victory for Latina Immigrant Workers Who Were Harassed by Supervisor
NEW YORK - Suffolk Laundry Services, Inc. will pay $582,000 to eight former employees to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The Southampton, N.Y.-based commercial laundry service also agreed to a four-year consent decree barring discrimination, instituting new procedures, and mandating training on sexual harassment to ensure that the kind of abuse that led to this lawsuit does not happen in the future.
Read the press release here.
U.S. Supreme Court will mull requirements for attorneys' fees under Title VII
By Robert Iafolla, Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider whether the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission should pay $4.7 million in attorneys' fees to lawyers who successfully defended a trucking company against the agency's putative sex discrimination class action.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- “We Don’t Want To Pay $4.7 Million” - EEOC Files Its Supreme Court Brief in CRST Fee Sanction Case (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
- Briefing For The Big Bucks: CRST Asks U.S. Supreme Court For Attorneys’ Fees From The EEOC (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
- Supreme Court to review CRST attorneys’ fee award against EEOC (Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete LLP)
- Title VII—Award of Attorney’s Fees to Prevailing Defendant (Mayer Brown LLP)
- U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on attorneys’ fees in Title VII cases (Squire Patton Boggs)
Do not forget! Time to update your Affirmative Action Plans
Foley & Lardner LLP, Lexology
Many companies use the calendar year (January to December) as the plan dates for their Affirmative Action Plans (AAPs). For companies that do so, it is important to remember that current year AAPs for January 1, 2015, thru December 31, 2015, will expire on December 31, 2015.
Read the story here.
Colleges Should Stop Paying Money to Ignore Racial Problems
By Shaun Harper, University of Pennsylvania
Each year, college presidents, provosts, deans and other senior administrators hire researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education, where I serve as executive director, to spend three to four days on their campuses conducting what feels like nonstop focus groups with students of color and their white peers about the realities of race on campuses. Sometimes campus leaders ask us to focus our climate studies on faculty and staff. We also collect statistical reports from offices of institutional research that typically show racial disparities in enrollment, academic performance, graduation rates, promotions and salaries, and a range of other metrics.
Each year, college presidents, provosts, deans and other senior administrators hire researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education, where I serve as executive director, to spend three to four days on their campuses conducting what feels like nonstop focus groups with students of color and their white peers about the realities of race on campuses. Sometimes campus leaders ask us to focus our climate studies on faculty and staff. We also collect statistical reports from offices of institutional research that typically show racial disparities in enrollment, academic performance, graduation rates, promotions and salaries, and a range of other metrics.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Diverse Conversations: Why Doesn’t Minority Faculty Look Like America? (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- Desegregation Not Same as Diversity and Inclusion (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- Racial Inequality on Campuses Must Be Dealt With on Many Different Fronts (Inside Higher Ed)
- Campus Protesters Across The Country Swap Ideas, Information (National Public Radio)
- Colleges keep lines of communication open with alumni as they respond to diversity concerns (Inside Higher Ed)
- Marketing and Communications in Higher Education: Leadershp after Mizzou (Inside Higher Ed)
- Raising Consciousness for the Future of Higher Education (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
Lawmakers celebrate 150th anniversary of 13th Amendment
By Jim Howard, St. Louis Public Radio
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln saw his home state of Illinois become the first to ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, banning slavery. He’d also live to see the end of the Civil War, in which he had declared slaves in Southern states, free under the Emancipation Proclamation, issued two years earlier, but he wouldn’t live to see the amendment itself become law, upon the vote of Georgia state lawmakers on Dec. 9, 1865.
Read the story here.
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln saw his home state of Illinois become the first to ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, banning slavery. He’d also live to see the end of the Civil War, in which he had declared slaves in Southern states, free under the Emancipation Proclamation, issued two years earlier, but he wouldn’t live to see the amendment itself become law, upon the vote of Georgia state lawmakers on Dec. 9, 1865.
Read the story here.
Click here to watch the President Obama's remarks on the 150th anniversary of the 13th Amendment.
CNN writer/producer Ricky Blalock files racial discrimination lawsuit
By Rodney Ho, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A black CNN writer/producer Ricky L. Blalock filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against CNN in the U.S. Northern District of the Northern District Thursday.
A black CNN writer/producer Ricky L. Blalock filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against CNN in the U.S. Northern District of the Northern District Thursday.
Blalock, 51, who has worked at CNN since 2010, claimed he and other black employees were passed over for promotions.
Read the story here.
As SCOTUS Hears Affirmative Action Arguments, Asian American Advocates Weigh In
By Kevin Lamarque, Reuters
As oral arguments began this week in a Supreme Court case that could deal a blow to affirmative action, sociologist Jennifer Lee says she hopes Asian-American parents who are against the concept realize that it represents a net positive for the Asian-American community.
As oral arguments began this week in a Supreme Court case that could deal a blow to affirmative action, sociologist Jennifer Lee says she hopes Asian-American parents who are against the concept realize that it represents a net positive for the Asian-American community.
Read the story here.
Prospero Ano y Felicidad: Feliz Navidad and an "English Only" Policy in the Workplace
Verrill Dana LLP, Lexology
As Jose Feliciano wishes us a Merry Christmas from the bottom of his heart, it is important that we as employers recognize that in order to maintain a diverse workforce we are going to be faced with some difficult questions—including whether an “English Only” policy is necessary or appropriate to accomplish our business goals. While Title VII does not specifically protect an employee’s right to speak a language other than English in the workplace, employers must recognize that both the EEOC and the NLRB take the position that these type of “English Only” policies may be both discriminatory and may also violate the NLRA by inhibiting employees’ abilities to discuss the terms and conditions of employment.
Read the story here.
As Jose Feliciano wishes us a Merry Christmas from the bottom of his heart, it is important that we as employers recognize that in order to maintain a diverse workforce we are going to be faced with some difficult questions—including whether an “English Only” policy is necessary or appropriate to accomplish our business goals. While Title VII does not specifically protect an employee’s right to speak a language other than English in the workplace, employers must recognize that both the EEOC and the NLRB take the position that these type of “English Only” policies may be both discriminatory and may also violate the NLRA by inhibiting employees’ abilities to discuss the terms and conditions of employment.
Read the story here.
No GINA violation for alternate duty assignment after firefighter refused compliance with ‘mandatory wellness program’
Jackson Lewis PC, Lexology
The City of San Antonio Fire Department did not violate the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) when it placed a firefighter on alternate duty after he failed to comply with a mandatory wellness program that evaluated fitness for duty, the federal appeals in New Orleans has ruled. Ortiz v. City of San Antonio Fire Dep’t, No. 15-50341 (5th Cir. Nov. 18, 2015).
Read the story here.
Related content:
Black scientists respond to Scalia's suggestion that 'less advanced' classes are more suitable
By Dexter Thomas, The Los Angeles Times
When Chanda Prescod-Weinstein left her home in Los Angeles and headed off to Harvard for her freshman year, the undercurrents were both predictable and fierce.
When Chanda Prescod-Weinstein left her home in Los Angeles and headed off to Harvard for her freshman year, the undercurrents were both predictable and fierce.
“You only got in because you’re black,” classmates told her. If not for affirmative action, they said, you'd never be a student on a campus like this.
They were wrong.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- The ‘Benefits’ of Black Physics Students (The New York Times)
- Morehouse College Generates 13 Percent of Black Computer Science Ph.D. Students (Atlanta Black Star)
- OpEd: Why Justice Scalia was Wrong about Black Scientists (NBC News)
- Scalia Black Scientists Controversy: Amid Affirmative Action Debate, Supreme Court Justice Says African-Americans Better Served By 'Slower Track' (International Business Times)
- Scalia says most black scientists went to 'lesser' colleges (PolitiFact)
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Supreme Court Laments How Little It Really Knows About Race-Conscious Admissions
By Peter Schmidt, The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Supreme Court’s proceedings resembled a debate over educational research more than a fight over constitutional principles as the justices heard oral arguments on Wednesday in a challenge to race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas at Austin.
Read the story here.
On Justice Scalia's comments about race:
The Supreme Court’s proceedings resembled a debate over educational research more than a fight over constitutional principles as the justices heard oral arguments on Wednesday in a challenge to race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas at Austin.
Read the story here.
Click here for the facts about the Fisher v. University of Texas case by the New York Times.
Related content:
- ‘This Case Shouldn’t Be Here Again’: Activists Outside the Supreme Court on ‘Fisher’ and Race (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Supreme Court Justices’ Comments Don’t Bode Well for Affirmative Action (The New York Times)
- Argument analysis: Now, three options on college affirmative action (SCOTUSblog)
- U.S. Supreme Court closely split on use of affirmative action at universities (Los Angeles Times)
- George E. Curry: Don’t be Fooled by ‘Silent Clarence’ Thomas (Afro American)
- Thurgood Marshall and the Need for Affirmative Action (The New Yorker)
On Justice Scalia's comments about race:
- Supreme Court Justice Scalia Proves Why Affirmative Action Is Needed 50 Years After it Was Signed Into Law (Huffington Post)
- Scalia and affirmative action: How much has changed since segregation was the law? (Los Angeles Times)
- Does Affirmative Action Create Mismatches Between Students and Universities? (The Atlantic)
- Dear Supreme Court: No, Black Students Don't Need to Go to 'Lesser' Schools (Teen VOGUE)
- Here’s what Antonin Scalia doesn’t get about affirmative action (The Washington Post)
- With Remarks in Affirmative Action Case, Scalia Steps Into ‘Mismatch’ Debate (The New York Times)
- New Study Fuels Debate Over ‘Mismatch’ Theory in Race-Conscious Admissions (The Chronicle of Higher Education -- requires paid subscription)
- Supreme court's affirmative action comments are 'dead wrong' experts say (The Guardian)
- Scalia’s ‘Mismatch Theory’ a Foe to Diversity, Inclusion (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- The Justices' Questions on Affirmative Action (Inside Higher Ed)
- A Closer Look at a Comment From Justice Scalia That Sparked Outrage (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Scalia questions place of some black students in elite colleges (CNN)
- Justice Scalia Questions Whether Blacks Ought to Be At Top Tier Universities (The Root)
- Scalia: Black Students Don’t Need Affirmative Action Because They Benefit From A ‘Slower Track’ (ThinkProgress)
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Congressional Black Caucus, Leading African American Organizations Announce New Initiatives To Increase Tech Diversity
BlackEngineer.com
America's Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G. K. Butterfield and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, co-chairs of the CBC Diversity Task Force, have convened leading African American Organizations to announce new initiatives in tech diversity.
Read the press release here.
America's Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G. K. Butterfield and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, co-chairs of the CBC Diversity Task Force, have convened leading African American Organizations to announce new initiatives in tech diversity.
Read the press release here.
Related content:
- Congressional Black Caucus Tackles Tech Sector Diversity (Bloomberg BNA)
Reversing Affirmative Action Would Send Us Backwards on Race
The Supreme Court must support the goal of a racially integrated society
By Lee Bollinger, TIME
When the Supreme Court revisits affirmative action in Fisher v. University of Texas on Dec. 9, the legalistic discussion of narrowly tailored means and race-neutral alternatives will obscure a more basic question: Do the searing events and protests that began in Ferguson, Mo., and continue to echo across the country leave any doubt about how far we have to go to overcome racial discrimination and to achieve a truly integrated society?
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Thurgood Marshall and the Need for Affirmative Action (The New Yorker)
- Ahead of Fisher Showdown, Experts Defend Affirmative Action (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- What the Supreme Court Will Be Asking as It Revisits Affirmative Action (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- How this Supreme Court case could change college affirmative action (The Christian Science Monitor)
- Al Sharpton: Why We Must Affirm Affirmative Action (The Huffington Post)
- To fight racial isolation on campus, start with admissions (Sherrilyn Ifill , NAACP LDF in the Washington Post)
- The Upcoming Fisher v. University of Texas Affirmative Action Case Is About More than College Admissions (The Huffington Post)
- Abigail Fischer, SCOTUS, And What The Rhetoric About ‘Reverse Discrimination’ Ignores (ThinkProgress)
- Elise Boddie: Why Supreme Court Justices Should Celebrate College Diversity, Not Reject It (The New York Times)
Students’ Protests May Play Role in Supreme Court Case on Race in Admissions
By Adam Liptak, The New York Times
WASHINGTON — As student protests over racial injustice are exploding at campuses across the nation, the Supreme Court is preparing to hear a major case that could put an end to racial preferences in college admissions.
WASHINGTON — As student protests over racial injustice are exploding at campuses across the nation, the Supreme Court is preparing to hear a major case that could put an end to racial preferences in college admissions.
The tense atmosphere on campuses may alter the legal dynamic when the case is argued on Dec. 9. “It’s quite possible,” said Michael C. Dorf, a law professor at Cornell, “that the way the court frames the discussion will be colored by the justices’ views of the campus protests.”
Read the story here.
Related content:
- What Are Students Demanding? (American Council on Education)
- The Supreme Court Could Fuel Campus Unrest in Ruling on Race in Admissions (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- The Latest - Race on Campus: Maryland Will Rename Stadium, Art Distresses Illinois, Harvard Law Students' Demands (Inside Higher Ed)
- Supreme Court Revisits University of Texas Race-in-Admissions Case (The Wall Street Journal)
- U.S. top court revisits affirmative action in university admissions (Reuters)
- Supreme Court to hear affirmative action case (Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC)
- Supreme Court Revisits Texas Affirmative Action in New Case (Associated Press)
- Colleges Must Explain the Value of Diversity and Holistic Review in Admissions Processes (Inside Higher Ed)
- Supreme Court Preparing to Tackle Fisher Case, Campus Diversity Again (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- The man behind two blockbuster Supreme Court cases this week: Edward Blum (Yahoo! News)
Shefa Wellness Center to Pay $37,000 to Settle EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Suit
Company Violated Law by Firing Pregnant Employee, Federal Agency Charged
ATLANTA - CFS Health Management Inc., dba Shefa Wellness Center, a Canton, Ga., medical practice specializing in cosmetic skin care treatments, will pay $37,000 to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
Read the press release here.
EEOC provides ADA guidance for employees’ doctors
Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete LLP, Lexology
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission came out this week with some guidance about the rights of individuals with AIDS and HIV. The guidance is unremarkable for anyone who is familiar with the Americans with Disabilities Act, although it never hurts to get a refresher, and in any event it’s aimed at employees, not employers.
Read the story here.
Read the official EEOC press release, EEOC Issues Publications on the Rights of Job Applicants and Employees Who Have HIV Infection.
Related content:
- EEOC issues guidance directed specifically to HIV positive employees and their physicians (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)
- EEOC issues guidance on rights of applicants and employees infected with HIV (Foley & Lardner LLP)
- EEOC guidance on accommodating employees with HIV/AIDS provides excellent perspective for all employers (SmithAmundsen LLC)
- EEOC issues additional guidance on job rights for employees with HIV (Barnes & Thornburg LLP)
- “Deaf culture” expert to testify at trial? Judge allows EEOC to test the limits (Ogletree Deakins)
Employment & labor law in the United States
Ogletree Deakins, Lexology
Which issues would you most highlight to someone new to your country?
Which issues would you most highlight to someone new to your country?
The United States has legislated to protect a wide variety of different groups against employment discrimination.
What do you consider unique to those doing business in your country?
With certain limited exceptions, most employment in the United States is on an at-will basis, meaning that the employer or the employee can terminate the working relationship at any time, as long as the reasons are lawful.
Read the story here.
Related content: in Lexology
Best practices for accommodating pregnant and postpartum employees
Stinson Leonard Street LLP, Lexology
On March 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Young v. United Parcel Service. This case addressed the extent to which employers must accommodate pregnant workers under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). The Court held that an employer's accommodations policy must not "impose a significant burden on pregnant workers" unless the employer has legitimate and non-discriminatory reasons for implementation of the policy that are "sufficiently strong to justify the burden." (Read our prior alert on this case.) Lower courts have just begun to grapple with how to apply this standard in a meaningful way. In addition to remaining compliant with the PDA, employers need to navigate a web of overlapping laws addressing pregnancy-related and postpartum discrimination and accommodation issues. This article provides a road map for this area.
Read the story here.
On March 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Young v. United Parcel Service. This case addressed the extent to which employers must accommodate pregnant workers under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). The Court held that an employer's accommodations policy must not "impose a significant burden on pregnant workers" unless the employer has legitimate and non-discriminatory reasons for implementation of the policy that are "sufficiently strong to justify the burden." (Read our prior alert on this case.) Lower courts have just begun to grapple with how to apply this standard in a meaningful way. In addition to remaining compliant with the PDA, employers need to navigate a web of overlapping laws addressing pregnancy-related and postpartum discrimination and accommodation issues. This article provides a road map for this area.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- New York State clarifies rights of working mothers (Jackson Lewis PC)
Fired U of Southern California Coach Sues University for Discrimination
Inside Higher Ed
Steve Sarkisian, the former head football coach of the University of Southern California who was fired in October after he appeared to be intoxicated at a game and during team meetings, sued the university Monday, alleging that he was discriminated against on the basis of a disability.
Read the story here.
Jury Awards Former Professor $2.5 Million in Discrimination Lawsuit
By Andy Thomason, The Chronicle of Higher Education
A state jury has awarded a former professor at Harris-Stowe State University $2.5 million over her assertion that the institution did not renew her contract because of her national origin. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Shereen Abdel Kader, a former professor in the historically black university’s College of Education, will be awarded $1.75 million in punitive damages and $750,000 for lost wages and emotional distress.
Read the story here.
EEOC by the numbers: FY 2015 was the best year ever
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, Lexology
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says fiscal year 2015 was its best enforcement year ever, resulting in more than $525 million for “victims of discrimination in private, state and local government, and federal workplaces.” Of the $525 million, $421.9 million went to charging parties-$356.6 million through mediation, conciliation, and settlements, $65.3 million through litigation. The remaining $105.7 million went to federal employees and applicants.
Read the story here.
Read the official EEOC press release here.
Related content:
- Is Your Company Next? EEOC Reports Collecting More Than Half a Billion Dollars in FY 2015 Enforcement Actions (Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP)
Settlement Reached with Palatine, Ill., Township High School District 211 to Remedy Transgender Discrimination
The U.S. Department of Education announced today that it has entered into a resolution agreement with Township High School District 211 based in Palatine, Illinois, after finding the district in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 for discriminating against a transgender high school student by denying her access to the girls' locker rooms.
Read the press release here.
Read the press release here.
Related content:
- Restroom Access For Transgender People Becoming A Contentious Issue (LeClairRyan)
- Will This Locker Room Saga Set a Precedent for Transgender Students All Over the Country? (Salon)
- Transgender student locker room case settled, but controversy remains (Chicago Tribune)
- Under federal pressure, Illinois school district allows transgender student to use locker room (The Washington Post)
- Dist. 211 transgender student must use separate changing area; ACLU disappointed (The Daily Herald)
CTA ousts a top official over sexually explicit emails
By Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune
Internal CTA emails obtained by the Tribune reveal a workplace culture often blatantly demeaning to women, including a high-level official engaged in alleged sexual harassment of female employees and other misconduct.
Internal CTA emails obtained by the Tribune reveal a workplace culture often blatantly demeaning to women, including a high-level official engaged in alleged sexual harassment of female employees and other misconduct.
In one case, the official and another male employee swapped digital messages crudely commenting about a female colleague's appearance even as they met with her.
Read the story here.
New Job, Old Habits (Sexual Harassment in Higher Education)
When professors leave one job due to sexual harassment allegations, they can land new jobs and repeat the behavior elsewhere, a recent case involving the University of Delaware and San Diego State University suggests.
By Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed
Did the University of Delaware enable a known sexual harasser to continue to work with students? That’s what one former Delaware faculty leader says regarding Vincent Martin, a former tenured professor of Spanish there. The university says it can’t comment on a private personnel matter. But if the accusations are true, Martin’s case could be part of the “pass the harasser” phenomenon in higher education some say is all too common.
Read the story here.
By Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed
Did the University of Delaware enable a known sexual harasser to continue to work with students? That’s what one former Delaware faculty leader says regarding Vincent Martin, a former tenured professor of Spanish there. The university says it can’t comment on a private personnel matter. But if the accusations are true, Martin’s case could be part of the “pass the harasser” phenomenon in higher education some say is all too common.
Read the story here.
Mizzou Names First Person To Take Chief Diversity Officer Job
Adding the position is part of the school's effort to address racism on campus.
by Tyler Kingkade, Huffington Post
The University of Missouri has named Chuck Henson, an associate dean in the School of Law, as its interim Vice Chancellor for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, the school announced Tuesday in a campuswide email.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Mike Middleton: Quick changes at MU may be 'asking too much' (Missourian)
- Missouri president: Opportunity to lead in racial matters (Associated Press)
- College Racism 2015: Chief Diversity Officers Hired In Wake Of Black Student Protests Across The US (International Business Times)
- UM System President Wolfe resigns, MU Chancellor transitions to new role; UM Board of Curators announces significant diversity and inclusion initiatives (The University of Missouri System)
- Missouri Protest Shows Need for Chief Diversity Officer on Campuses (Associations Now)
Gates Scholarship Program Aims to Boost Minority Leadership
By Alex Daniels, The Chronicle of Philanthropy
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will replace its signature work in postsecondary education, the Gates Millennium Scholars program, with a $417.2 million scholarship program that aims to use technology to build campus leaders among low-income minority students.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Raising a New Generation of Ghanaian #CodeGirls (BlackGirlNerds)
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Surrogate mother's discrimination claims move forward against employer
Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP, Lexology
A California federal court judge refused to dismiss a surrogate mother's claims that she was not provided with accommodations in violation of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, moving the case forward. Mary Gonzales sued Marriott International earlier this year alleging that the hotel chain discriminated against her for being a surrogate mother, demonstrated by the fact that she was only permitted to take lactation breaks for a few weeks before being told she had to use her lunch break to pump—while other lactating women were granted breaks—because she wasn't feeding a child at home.
Read the story here.
A California federal court judge refused to dismiss a surrogate mother's claims that she was not provided with accommodations in violation of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, moving the case forward. Mary Gonzales sued Marriott International earlier this year alleging that the hotel chain discriminated against her for being a surrogate mother, demonstrated by the fact that she was only permitted to take lactation breaks for a few weeks before being told she had to use her lunch break to pump—while other lactating women were granted breaks—because she wasn't feeding a child at home.
Read the story here.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Cintas Corporation to Pay $1.5 Million to Settle EEOC Class Sex Discrimination Lawsuit
Uniform Company Refused Jobs to Class of Women for Years; Federal Agency Wins Victory After Years of Litigation
INDIANAPOLIS - Cintas Corporation, a major uniform manufacturer and supplier, will pay $1,500,000 to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
Read the press release here.
OHM Concessions Will Pay $151,000 to Settle EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit
Restaurant Fired Manager Days Before Medical Leave for Cancer Surgery, Federal Agency Charged
BALTIMORE - OHM Concessions Group, LLC, which operates Dunkin' Donuts stores at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI), will pay $151,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
Read the press release here.
BALTIMORE - OHM Concessions Group, LLC, which operates Dunkin' Donuts stores at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI), will pay $151,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
Read the press release here.
DOL settles systemic hiring and pay discrimination claim with government contractor for close to $2 million
Proskauer Rose LLP, Lexology
On November 19, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) announced that it reached a settlement with nine locations of a government contractor “to remedy systemic hiring and pay discrimination violations.” The contractor in question provides uniform and facility services products to private businesses and the federal government.
Read the story here.
Click here for the official DOL press release.
UT case’s return to Supreme Court renews affirmative action debate
By David G. Savage
WASHINGTON — With the constitutionality of race-based affirmative action hanging by a thread at the Supreme Court, University of Texas officials are struggling to explain a policy that gives an extra edge to Latino and black students from middle-class households and top-performing high schools.
It is called “qualitative diversity,” and premier state universities, including the University of California, insist such policies are vital to preserving academic standards and combating stereotypes about minorities.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider UT affirmative action case (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
- At Texas' flagship university, many fear for diversity (USA Today)
- Bollinger calls for leadership on issues of affirmative action, racial discrimination (Columbia Daily Spectator)
- UT policy on admitting suburban minorities debated (San Antonio Express-News)
- Duke coaches weigh in on affirmative-action case (The Herald-Sun)
U.S. Department of Justice further delays ADA Title III rulemaking on website accessibility
Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Lexology
On Nov. 19, the federal government released its Fall Semiannual Regulatory Agenda. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has moved its anticipated rulemaking regarding website accessibility under title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which pertains to places of public accommodation, to the “long-term action” list. Meanwhile, DOJ also announced that it expects to issue its title II Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on website accessibility in January 2016. In the accompanying Statements of Agency Priorities, DOJ states that it “believes that the title II web site accessibility rule will facilitate the creation of an important infrastructure for web accessibility that will be very important in [DOJ’s] preparation of the title III web site accessibility NPRM.” DOJ further indicated that it expects to publish the title III website accessibility NPRM during fiscal year 2018. (In its Spring Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, DOJ had delayed its title III NPRM from June 2015 until April 2016.)
Read the story here.
On Nov. 19, the federal government released its Fall Semiannual Regulatory Agenda. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has moved its anticipated rulemaking regarding website accessibility under title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which pertains to places of public accommodation, to the “long-term action” list. Meanwhile, DOJ also announced that it expects to issue its title II Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on website accessibility in January 2016. In the accompanying Statements of Agency Priorities, DOJ states that it “believes that the title II web site accessibility rule will facilitate the creation of an important infrastructure for web accessibility that will be very important in [DOJ’s] preparation of the title III web site accessibility NPRM.” DOJ further indicated that it expects to publish the title III website accessibility NPRM during fiscal year 2018. (In its Spring Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, DOJ had delayed its title III NPRM from June 2015 until April 2016.)
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Litigation Expands as DOJ Delays Website Accessibility Rules (Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP)
- DOJ delays website accessibility regulations under Title III of the ADA until 2018 (Briggs and Morgan)
Gender identity in the workplace: best practices
Hunton & Williams LLP, Lexology
On November 3, 2015, Houston voters rejected Proposition 1, a broadly-worded human rights ordinance that would have made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of, among other things, gender identity. Opposition to that ordinance coalesced around the issue of restrooms, with many citizens expressing fear that the law would allow men to use women’s restrooms.
Read the story here.
Related content:
Working while brown: What discrimination looks like now
When Monica Harwell began a program that trained women to work at Con Edison, the energy utility provider for New York, she thought her dreams of having a job working outdoors would finally be realized.
CNN Money
She learned to climb utility poles, received electrical training and assisted other workers in the field. Harwell was one of the first women on her team and one of the sole black employees working with crews that were almost all male and white.
But the experience came at a price.
Read the story here.
Related content in this series:
Student Activists Want More Black Faculty Members -- But How Realistic Are These Goals?
Student protesters on a number of campuses want to see many more black faculty members. But how realistic are some of their goals?
By Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed
Increasing faculty diversity has long been a priority on college campuses, but the recent, widespread student protests over race relations have made the issue all the more urgent. And while a number of institutions already have pledged additional resources to increasing faculty diversity, questions remain about how realistic some of these goals are -- at least in the near term.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- What Are Students Demanding? (American Council on Education)
- When Recruiting Minority Faculty Members Isn't Enough (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires subscription)
- Dearth of Black Ph.D. Recipients Will Complicate Efforts to Diversify Faculty (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires subscription)
- Here Are the List of Demands from Students Protesting Racism at 51 Colleges
- What Can Campus Leaders Do to Make Protests Unnecessary? (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Student Protesters Want Qualitative Diversity on Campus (Slate)
- Student Protest Lists of Demands Get Longer and More Detailed (Inside Higher Ed)
- Percentage of Black College Students in U.S. Outnumber Professors Nearly 2 to 1 (TIME)
- Campus Racism Protests Didn't Come Out Of Nowhere, And They Aren't Going Away Quickly (The Huffington Post)
- White Boys’ Club? White Faculty Still Dominates in National Stats (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- Black Youth Filling the Leadership Void (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
The Missing Black Students at Elite American Universities
Minority college enrollment has skyrocketed, but the black share of the student bodies at top research schools has barely budged in 20 years.
By Andrew McGill, The Atlantic
By Andrew McGill, The Atlantic
Over the past 20 years, black enrollment in colleges and universities has skyrocketed. It’s a huge success story, one that’s due to the hard work of black families, college admissions officers, and education advocates. But at top-tier universities in the United States, it’s a different story. There, the share of students who are black has actually dropped since 1994.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Rising Tide: Do College Grad Rate Gains Benefit All Students? (The Education Trust)
- Black students are drastically underrepresented at top public colleges, data show (The Hechinger Report)
- How elite private colleges might serve black students better (The Hechinger Report)
- Study Shows Graduation Rates Doesn't Always Benefit Minorities (Inside Higher Ed)
- Tradition of Exclusion at PWIs Harmful for Diversity (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- Want More Innovation? Get More Diversity (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
Here’s the real reason 9 out of 10 colleges report no rapes last year
By Danielle Paquette, The Washington Post
A new analysis of campus crime data has revealed that 91 percent of U.S. colleges had no reported cases of rape in 2014, according to the American Association of University Women. That should be good news, but we know sexual assault is far more common than that. A 2014 survey of more than 150,000 students across the country found that nearly one in four college women had experienced sexual violence on campus. And under the Clery Act, a school is required to report every sex crime that happens on its grounds to the Department of Education
Read the story here.
Related content:
Education Department Receives Many Complaints about Racial Harassment in Higher Education
Education Department has received more than 1,000 filings on racial harassment in higher ed in last seven years. But only a fraction result in any findings.
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed
In an op-ed this month on rising racial tensions on campus, Education Secretary Arne Duncan noted that in his seven years in office, the department's Office for Civil Rights has received more than 1,000 complaints about racial harassment in higher education. He said this statistic was an indication that the current concerns about race on campus are "no small issue." Duncan didn't note how small a proportion of those complaints have resulted in findings of discrimination. Most of the complaints, in fact, never result in a complete investigation by OCR, let alone a finding. That isn't necessarily a sign of weak complaints or of poor enforcement by OCR. A review of more information provided by the Education Department, however, may illustrate why students are turning to campus protests and not to Washington with their grievances.
Read the story here.
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed
In an op-ed this month on rising racial tensions on campus, Education Secretary Arne Duncan noted that in his seven years in office, the department's Office for Civil Rights has received more than 1,000 complaints about racial harassment in higher education. He said this statistic was an indication that the current concerns about race on campus are "no small issue." Duncan didn't note how small a proportion of those complaints have resulted in findings of discrimination. Most of the complaints, in fact, never result in a complete investigation by OCR, let alone a finding. That isn't necessarily a sign of weak complaints or of poor enforcement by OCR. A review of more information provided by the Education Department, however, may illustrate why students are turning to campus protests and not to Washington with their grievances.
Read the story here.
Related content:
What to do with racist employees?
Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP, Lexology
Based on my experience dealing with employers and sharing war stories with fellow employment lawyers, I think it’s fair to say that most employers are not racists. They tend to do everything reasonable to prevent racist conduct in the workplace and to correct it when it happens. Sure, the law requires preventative and corrective measures anyway, but most employers would want to prevent such inappropriate conduct even if they did not legally have to.
Read the story here.
Improving Diversity in Higher Education - Beyond the Moral Imperative
By Amit Mrig, Forbes
We witnessed a pivotal moment for higher education last week with the resignations of Tim Wolfe, President of the University of Missouri System, and R. Bowen Loftin, Chancellor of the flagship campus in Columbia. Issues of diversity and inclusion have been challenging campuses for years, but I believe we have now reached a tipping point that will place this issue front and center on leaders’ agendas today and into the future.
Read the story here.
We witnessed a pivotal moment for higher education last week with the resignations of Tim Wolfe, President of the University of Missouri System, and R. Bowen Loftin, Chancellor of the flagship campus in Columbia. Issues of diversity and inclusion have been challenging campuses for years, but I believe we have now reached a tipping point that will place this issue front and center on leaders’ agendas today and into the future.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Hire a Chief Diversity Officer, Check! (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)
- 4 Ways to Ease Strife on Campuses (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Brown University Pledges $100M to Enhance Diversity, Inclusion Efforts (INSIGHT into Diversity)
U.S. Government Disability Employment Hits Record High
By Frank Kineavy, Diversity, Inc.
Employment of people with disabilities by the U.S. federal government hit a record high last year, according to the Office of Personnel Management, which submitted its report to President Barack Obama last month.
Employment of people with disabilities by the U.S. federal government hit a record high last year, according to the Office of Personnel Management, which submitted its report to President Barack Obama last month.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- ADA 25 Years Later: Definite Progress But Hiring Gaps Remain (Diversity, Inc.)
- Discrimination Against Job Applicants with Disabilities Exposed (Diversity, Inc.)
Monday, November 23, 2015
U-Kansas Professor on Leave After Comments on Race Result in 5 Complaints
Kansas professor is on leave after students complain over her use of n-word and her statements on retention. Situation is latest to raise issues of racial sensitivity and academic freedom.
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed
Several administrators have lost their jobs in the last month amid campus protests over issues of race. Now a faculty member at the University of Kansas finds her job status uncertain after five graduate students filed complaints against her and organized a public campaign for her to be fired -- over comments she made in discussing recent campus protests.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- Responses on Race (Inside Higher Ed)
Judge: Dollar General must tell how it screens job applicants, EEOC doesn't need to supply info on why it brought disparate impact action
By Jonathan Bilyk, Cook County Record
A federal judge has dealt setbacks to Dollar General in its years-long court fight with federal equal opportunity regulators over claims the company’s employment screening practices resulted in keeping African Americans from landing jobs at the retailer’s stores.
A federal judge has dealt setbacks to Dollar General in its years-long court fight with federal equal opportunity regulators over claims the company’s employment screening practices resulted in keeping African Americans from landing jobs at the retailer’s stores.
Read the story here.
Related content:
Katy-Area Shipley’s Donuts Franchise Pays $45,000 To Settle EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Suit
Food Establishment Forced Employee to Take Leave and Then Fired Her Due to Pregnancy, Federal Agency Charged
HOUSTON - D&S Shipley Donuts, dba Shipley's Donuts, a Katy, Texas-area franchise, will pay $45,000 and furnish other relief to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
Read the story here.
Claims brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Equal Pay Act
Sirote & Permutt PC, Lexology
In this week's Alabama Law Weekly Update, we report on a case from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama discussing the accommodations requirement under the Americans with Disabilities Act and a case from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama examining a claim brought under the Equal Pay Act.
In this week's Alabama Law Weekly Update, we report on a case from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama discussing the accommodations requirement under the Americans with Disabilities Act and a case from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama examining a claim brought under the Equal Pay Act.
Read the story here.
Hoeganaes Corporation Settles EEOC Disability Discrimination Lawsuit
Steel and Iron Powder Company Denied Applicant a Job Because It Regarded Him as Disabled, Federal Agency Charged
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Hoeganaes Corporation will pay $47,500 and furnish other significant equitable relief to resolve a lawsuit for disability discrimination filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
Read the story here.
Protests and Controversies over Race Proliferate on Campuses
Princeton agrees to consider changing role of Woodrow Wilson name on campus; white student union surfaces (online) at Illinois; black ministers want Kean president to quit; Smith students exclude journalists; Towson president signs list of demands; and more.
By Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed
Princeton University late Thursday ended a sit-in in the president's office by agreeing to consider changing the prominent use of Woodrow Wilson's name -- in ways that honor the man who was president of the United States and of Princeton. The action was one of many in higher education in which colleges are trying to respond to a growing student protest movement that in the last 48 hours has seen new sit-ins and rallies -- and also new incidents of backlash and threats.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- On Some Campuses, Protests Continue Over Thanksgiving Weekend (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- At One College, Professors Support Students Protesting Racial Inequality (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Torn Over Tactics: Activists Refine Their Demands as Protests Over Racism Spread (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires paid subscription)
- Missouri: Can hiring more black professors shift institutional racism? (The Christian Science Monitor)
- Who Gets to Organize a Protest? (Inside Higher Ed)
- Defaced Portraits of Black Harvard Faculty Being Investigated as 'Hate Crime' (NBC News)
- University, students reach agreement on campus climate concerns (Princeton University News)
- Campus Protests Continue at Princeton Becomes Flashpoint Debate over Woodrow Wilson (Inside Higher Ed)
- Experts: Black Studies Programs Facing Campus Challenges (The Associated Press)
The Role That Boards Play in Racial Debates on College Campuses
By Peter Eckel and Cathy Trower, Inside Higher Ed
The long-simmering tensions related to race, ethnicity, inclusion and diversity in higher education have reached the boiling point nationally. The headlines regarding protests and demands, not only by students but also by faculty and staff members, at Claremont McKenna College, Ithaca College, the University of Missouri, Yale University and elsewhere have put such issues firmly on the agendas of boards of trustees everywhere, if they were not there already.
And those recent controversies probably have added a sense of urgency to the conversations. While some boards have been giving these matters some attention for some time, we have now reached a tipping point where all boards must step up to partner in leadership with the president.
Read the story here.
Related content:
- 3 Colleges Wrestle With Iconic Leaders' Racial Legacies (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires paid subscription)
- Diversity Training Is in Demand. Does It Work? (The Chronicle of Higher Education - requires paid subscription)
- College Racism 2015: Chief Diversity Officers Hired In Wake Of Black Student Protests Across The US (International Business Times)
- Missouri would likely be alone with 10 percent black faculty (Associated Press)
- Mizzou Crisis Highlights Racial Gap Between Students, Administration (NBC News)
- Protests at Still More Campuses (Inside Higher Ed)
- How Three Bad Decisions Signaled Doom at Mizzou (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
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