Reactions to Executive Transgender Protection

This week, Congressmen Ralph Abraham and Brian Babin introduced legislation to amend or prevent the Obama Administration's enforcement of its transgender protection policies and interpretations of Title IX. Abraham's bill limits the use of "sex" in Title IX to mean "biological sex", and Babin's proposal would invalidate the May 13th directive by the Departments of Justice and Education and prevent further federal action.

Read the press release for Babin's bill here, and for Abraham's bill here.

Zoo Printing Agrees to Pay $110,000 to Settle EEOC Disability and Retaliation Discrimination Lawsuit

Company Discriminatorily Fired HIV-Positive Employees,  Federal Agency Charged

INDIANAPOLIS - Zoo Printing, Inc., a commercial printing company headquartered in California with facilities in New Jersey and Kentucky, will pay $110,000 to settle a disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Read more here.

McWhite’s Funeral Home to Pay $85,000 to Settle EEOC Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Lawsuit

Owner and Manager Engaged in Severe Sexual Harassment of Female Employees, Retaliated Against Those Who Complained, Federal Agency Charges

MIAMI - McWhite's Funeral Home of Fort Lauderdale will pay $85,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commis­sion (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Read the story here.

American Casing & Equipment Will Pay $250,000 to Settle EEOC Discrimination and Retaliation Suit

Oilfield Company Fired Filipino Employee for Complaining About Race and National Origin Harassment, Federal Agency Charged

MINNEAPOLIS - American Casing & Equipment, Inc., a North Dakota oilfield service company operating in Williston, N.D., will pay $250,000 and provide significant other relief to settle a race and national origin discrimination and retaliation lawsuit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

Read more here.

Advancing Opportunity for All in the Tech Industry

Exploring New Ways to Achieve Inclusive Workplaces and Tackle theSignificant Challenges that Remain In Promoting Diversity in Tech

WASHINGTON-The high tech sector has become a major source of economic growth fueling the U.S. economy.  Yet, diversity and inclusion in the tech industry has in many ways gotten worse, a number of witnesses told the members of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at apublic meeting held today at agency headquarters in Washington.

Read the details here.

New Federal Guidelines on Supporting Transgender Students Under Title IX

Amidst a recently intensified national debate regarding support for transgender students in schools, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Education (DOE) today issued new guidance setting out guidelines for how they will enforce Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972’s prohibition against denying equal educational opportunities based on student’s sex. The guidance confirms that the DOJ and DOE interpret a student’s “sex” based on gender identity, or that person’s subjective or internal gender, as opposed to sex assigned at birth.

Continue reading here.

Office Concepts to Pay $45,000 to Settle EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Suit

Fort Wayne Office Product and Service Store Fired Employee Because of Her Pregnancy, Federal Agency Charged

INDIANAPOLIS - Office Concepts, Inc., a Fort Wayne, Ind., office product and service store, will pay $45,000 and provide other relief to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Read the story here.

EEOC Issues Final Rules on Employer Wellness Programs

Rules Address Incentives; Protect Confidentiality

WASHINGTON, DC--The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today issued final rules that describe how Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) apply to wellness programs offered by employers that request health information from employees and their spouses. The two rules provide guidance to both employers and employees about how workplace wellness programs can comply with the ADA and GINA consistent with provisions governing wellness programs in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as amended by the Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act).

Read more here.

Federal contractor affirmative action requirements: Are you keeping up?

By some accounts, approximately 20 percent of all American businesses are federal contractors or subcontractors. If your business contracts with the federal government, or if you contract with another company that does business with the federal government, you may have affirmative action obligations under a number of federal laws. 


For a brief summary of affirmative action regulations for federal contractors, read here. 

Even The White House Is Over Asians Being Labeled As The ‘Model Minority’

The White House has taken it upon itself to dispel the model minority myth for good. Last week, the Department of Education announced a “AAPI Data Disaggregation Initiative” to determine the real academic struggles of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students in public school.

Read the story here.

FEDERAL FOOD SERVICE CONTRACTOR SETTLES CHARGES OF GENDER-BASED HIRING DISCRIMINATION FOR ENTRY-LEVEL MICHIGAN, KENTUCKY, WISCONSIN WAREHOUSE JOBS

Gordon Food Service Inc. to pay women $1.85M in back wages, benefits

WYOMING, Mich. – For a second time, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has determined that a Michigan-based, federal food service contractor systematically discriminated against 926 qualified women seeking entry-level warehouse laborer jobs.

In agreements with the department, Gordon Food Service, Inc. of Wyoming will pay a total of $1.85 million to female applicants, hire 37 female applicants and stop using a strength test that OFCCP found to be discriminatory.

Read more here.

Landis Communities and Landis Homes Retirement Community Will Pay $132,500 to Resolve EEOC Suit

Nursing Home Terminated Pregnant Nursing Supervisor Who Requested a Lifting Accommodation, Conducted Unlawful Medical Inquiry, and Refused Rehire Because of Her Disability, Federal Agency Says

PHILADELPHIA - Nursing home Landis Homes Retirement Community, and its managing entity, Landis Communities, will pay $132,500 and furnish other significant relief to resolve a federal pregnancy discrimination, disability discrimination, and retaliation lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employ­ment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today.

Read the story here.

Lowe's to Pay $8.6 Million to Settle EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit

Retail Home Improvement and Appliance Store Chain Fired Thousands of Workers With Disabilities Due to Rigid Leave Policy, Federal Agency Charges

LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the approval of the resolution of a nationwide disability discrimination case against home improvement, appliance and hardware giant Lowe's. U.S. District Court Judge André Birotte Jr. approved the consent decree which calls for the distribution of $8.6 million.

Read the story here.

U.S. Departments of Education and Justice Release Joint Guidance to Help Schools Ensure the Civil Rights of Transgender Students

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice released joint guidance today to help provide educators the information they need to ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.

Read more here.

University of Minnesota’s proposed free speech protections would be “the most comprehensive to date”

Last week the University of Minnesota Senate began to take up the issue of free speech on campus. The proposed statement condemns efforts to shut down controversial speakers and declares free speech paramount to other values like maintaining a positive campus “climate.” During the meeting, one faculty member also called for “discursive affirmative action” to correct perceived imbalances of power and influence among speakers, a concept explicitly rejected by the core principles draft.  

Read the story here.

Lynch: States Can't 'Insist' a Man is a Man and a Woman is a Woman, If Person Feels Otherwise

By Susan Jones | May 10, 2016 | 6:20 AM EDT

Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks at the Justice Department on Monday, May 9, 2016, after North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's administration sued the federal government in defense of a state law that says people in public facilities must use the restroom that corresponds with their biological sex.

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Justice Department is putting the feelings of transgenders -- men who think they are women and women who think they are men -- above the privacy rights of the vast majority of people who don't contest the biological facts of who they actually are.

For a video and the story, continue reading here.

OFCCP Publishes Finalized Updated FAAP Directive

OFCCP has received approval from OMB for revisions to the Agency’s Functional Affirmative Action Program (FAAP) directive. The revised Directive 305 went into effect on April 28, 2016.

More information here.

EEOC to Hold May 18 Commission Meeting On Diversity in the Tech Industry

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will hold a public meeting entitled "Innovation Opportunity: Examining Strategies to Promote Diverse and Inclusive Workplaces in the Tech Industry" on Wednesday, May 18, from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) at EEOC headquarters, 131 M Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.

More information here and here. 

Murphy Oil Sued By EEOC for Disability Discrimination and Retaliation

Gas Station Convenience Store Chain Unlawfully Refused Accommodation for Worker With a Back Impairment and Then Fired Him, Federal Agency Charges

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Murphy Oil Corporation, which operates Murphy USA retail gasoline stores typically located in Walmart parking lots in over 20 states, violated federal law by firing a store manager because of his disability, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

Read the story here. 

Ellucian to Pay $140,000 to Resolve Discrimination against Transgender Employee

Higher Education Technology Services Company Unlawfully Removed Employee From Her Position After She Revealed her Gender Transition

MINNEAPOLIS -- Ellucian, a higher education technology services company with operations in Minnesota, has agreed to pay $140,000 and provide significant non-monetary relief to resolve a finding of discrimination by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

Read more here. 

EEOC Obtains Over $66,000 from Moonshine Group and True Country for Pregnancy Discrimination

Tempe Bar Fired Bartender Because She Was Pregnant, Federal Agency Charged

PHOENIX - The owners/operators of the Moonshine Whiskey Bar in Tempe, Ariz., will pay $66,000 and furnish other relief to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

Read the story here. 

Affirmative action battle brewing at Harvard

CAMBRIDGE — An organization currently suing Harvard, alleging that the university discriminates against qualified Asian applicants, is now fighting the Ivy League institution’s efforts to force it to disclose its membership list and funding sources.

Read the story here.

Why the new SAT isn't as transparent as the College Board wants you to believe

The College Board calls the new SAT “profoundly transparent,” but it won't release so-called item-level data — information about how students nationwide fared on particular questions — to the public. In fact, it hasn't released such statistics since 2000. That makes it difficult for the public to scrutinize why certain demographic groups perform so much better on the SAT than others.

Read the op-ed here.

U.S. Department of Education Releases Report on Office for Civil Rights to Ensure Educational Equity for All Students

Record 10,392 Complaints, 3,000-Plus Investigations Launched, More Than 1,000 Key Resolutions Reached

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights today released its fiscal year 2015 annual report highlighting efforts during the last year to protect students’ civil rights and increase educational equity nationwide.

Read the story here. 

EEOC Sues KB Staffing For Disability Discrimination

Company Required Applicants to Complete an Unlawful Pre-Offer Health Questionnaire, Federal Agency Charged

TAMPA, Fla. - KB Staffing LLC, a staffing firm servicing central Florida, made unlawful pre-offer health inquiries of applicants in violation of federal law, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

Read the story here.

Asbestos Specialists, Inc. Will Pay $100,000 and Make Major Policy Changes to Resolve EEOC and OFCCP Investigations

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Asbestos Specialists, Inc. (ASI), a Baltimore-based company that specializes in asbestos removal and demolition in the Washington, D.C. area, will pay $100,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to resolve a charge of national origin harassment filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and a Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) compliance evaluation, EEOC announced today.

Read the story here. 

4 Major Decisions To Expect From The Supreme Court Soon

Three months ago, this term was setting up to be a bloodbath for liberals. Public sector unions were going to be stabbed in the gut. Affirmative action was on life support. The Court’s conservative majority signaled that it was prepared to drastically roll back the federal government’s power to fight climate change.

Then that majority ceased to be a majority.

Read the story here.

Civil rights pioneer and lawyer Pettit warns against a country 'attempting to move backward'

Attorney and Harford County civil rights pioneer A. Dwight Pettit speaks about the importance of the upcoming presidential election and its impact on Supreme Court appointments, during Sunday's Haford NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet in Havre de Grace.

Read the story here. 

Country Fresh Sued by EEOC for Sex Discrimination

Milk Manufacturer Refused to Promote Woman Because of Gender, Federal Agency Charged

DETROIT - A Grand Rapids, Mich.-based milk and juice manufacturer violated federal law by subjecting a female employee to sex discrimination, the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

Read the story here.

Morse Moving & Storage to Pay $30,000 to Settle EEOC Retaliation Lawsuit

Moving Company Fired an Employee Because She Complained of Harassment, Agency Says

DETROIT - Morse Moving & Storage, a residential and corporate moving services provider based in Romulus, Mich., will pay $30,000 to settle a retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

Read the story here.