EEOC

Today 4 “BigLaw” firms settled with the EEOC following letters sent by Acting Chair Andrea Lucas regarding their DEI practices. These firms affirmed their commitment to lawful merit-based hiring and more: https://lnkd.in/ed26P7HD #DEI

President Donald J. Trump has renominated Acting Chair Andrea R. Lucas to another five-year term at the EEOC. In the first 60 days of Acting Chair Lucas’s leadership, the EEOC has made significant progress towards the goal of restoring evenhanded enforcement of employment civil rights laws for all Americans. Significant actions include: - combating DEI-related discrimination in our nation’s elite law firms (https://lnkd.in/ejdupmKd); - developing resources to help workers and employers understand DEI-related discrimination with the Justice Department (DOJ) (https://lnkd.in/ekZaHQc9); - promising to hold universities accountable for antisemitism on campus workplaces (https://lnkd.in/e9FuvGhC); - focusing the EEOC on protecting American workers from anti-American bias (https://lnkd.in/gJme7F-i); and - restoring the EEOC’s role of protecting women in the workplace by removing gender ideology (https://lnkd.in/earZKtYy). Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eDtqGXBM

DEI at work. Do you know what to do if you experience or have experienced unlawful DEI-related discrimination at work? A new EEOC resource helps you identify and report unlawful DEI. https://lnkd.in/g4nTxhVA

Acting Chair Andrea Lucas says the EEOC will hold accountable universities and colleges which have created hostile work environments for Jewish employees. Acting Chair Lucas will prioritize protecting workers from religious bias and harassment, including the egregious and widespread antisemitism.  “Universities are workplaces, too, and large-scale employers. In addition to Jewish professors on campus, universities employ Jewish staff who work a variety of jobs, all of whom have the right not to be discriminated against or harassed on the basis of religion, national origin, or race.” – Acting Chair Lucas    The EEOC and Acting Chair Lucas have published multiple resources for employees and employers about addressing antisemitism at work: -EEOC Fact Sheet: What To Do If You Face Antisemitism at Work: https://lnkd.in/eZipAcqv   -EEOC’s Unanimous Resolution Condemning Violence, Harassment, and Bias Against Jewish Persons in the United States: https://lnkd.in/dzuWYBb   -EEOC’s Religious Discrimination Enforcement Guidance: https://lnkd.in/eawqVMn4   -Training on Combating Anti-Semitism in the Workplace by Acting Chair (then Commissioner) Lucas with the Louis D. Brandeis Center: https://lnkd.in/ezVHJ5FN     If you work for a university or college (or any other employer) and have experienced antisemitism at work, you can file a charge with the EEOC. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gMpVrAd. 

Workplace Retaliation Could be Hurting Your Business: Strategies for Prevention and Response March 25, 2025, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. ET Virtual Registration Fee: $275 per person   Did you know that retaliation continues to be the most frequently filed charge with the EEOC with over 50% of charges citing a retaliation claim? Join us for an insightful and engaging workshop that explores the critical issue of retaliation in the workplace. Learn how to recognize, prevent, and respond to retaliatory behaviors that undermine workplace fairness and employee morale. This session will cover key legal protections, practical strategies for creating a respectful environment, and steps to take if retaliation occurs. Whether you're a manager, attorney, or HR professional, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and tools to foster a safer, more equitable workplace. Use this link to learn more about the workshop and to register: https://lnkd.in/g6Fiz9pY

The State of the EEOC: Frequently Asked Questions Recently, President Trump issued a series of executive orders directing the federal government, including the EEOC, to combat serious patterns of discrimination and harassment. With these orders and recent changes in the bipartisan leadership panel of EEOC Commissioners, the EEOC has received questions about the agency’s operating status. A new document, “The State of the EEOC: Frequently Asked Questions,” responds to many of the questions. Under the leadership of Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, the EEOC remains open for business and fully committed to protecting the civil rights of all Americans, advancing individual equal opportunity for all, and relentlessly combatting private sector and public sector discrimination. Use the link below to read the Q&As and related Executive Orders which are linked in the document. https://lnkd.in/eantwVSD

President Donald J. Trump has appointed Andrew Rogers as the acting general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).    Andrew Rogers has served as chief counsel to Acting Chair Andrea Lucas since October 2020, during her prior tenure as commissioner and her tenure as acting chair to date. In this position he participated in all aspects of the Commission’s work, including regulations, subregulatory guidance, amicus filings, federal sector matters, commissioner’s charges, subpoena determinations, and litigation.    “I am delighted that President Trump has appointed Andrew Rogers as Acting General Counsel. Andrew is a brilliant lawyer, a strategic thinker, and a trusted advisor. He has deep and broad employment law experience between his government service with me at the EEOC and with former EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling at the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, as well as his time in private practice. I look forward to partnering with Andrew in his new role to continue the important work of the agency.” - EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas   Prior to his time on the Commission, Rogers served in the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor, where he focused primarily on regulations and opinion letters. Before that, he practiced labor and employment law at Littler Mendelson PC and Paul Hastings LLP. Earlier in his career, he clerked for then-Chief Judge Harvey Bartle III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Rogers received a degree with honors from the University of Virginia, as well as his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

There’s less than a week left to register for “Tackling Employer Defenses Under the ADA: Undue Hardship and Direct Threat Defenses.” The second most-often filed charge with the Commission alleges disability discrimination, and employers may claim undue hardship or direct threat in their defense. The EEOC brings you the only training designed specifically for employers to understand the available defenses under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Through case studies and real-world examples, attendees will learn the legal requirements for both defenses. Join us virtually on February 6, 2025 at 10 a.m. PT/ 1 p.m. ET. Continuing Education Credits California CLE - approved for 2 hours Nevada CLE - approved for 2 hours HRCI - approved for 2 hours SHRM - approved for 2 hours Federal investigator and counselor refresher - approved for 2 hours Cost: $275/per person https://lnkd.in/gvw8Ug3n

The EEOC continues to enforce federal antidiscrimination laws, including the intake, processing, investigation, and resolution of charges of discrimination. If you believe that you have been discriminated against at work because of your race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, transgender status, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information, you can file a charge of discrimination. https://lnkd.in/emUATKy

EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas announced that the agency is returning to its mission of protecting women from sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination in the workplace by taking the following immediate actions. - Prioritized compliance, investigations, and litigation to defend the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single-sex spaces at work. - Removal of the agency’s “pronoun app,” a feature in employees’ Microsoft 365 profiles, which allowed an employee to opt to identify pronouns, content which then appeared alongside the employee’s display name across all Microsoft 365 platforms, including Outlook and Teams. This content was displayed both to internal and external parties with whom EEOC employees communicated. - Ended the use of the “X” gender marker during the intake process for filing a charge of discrimination. - Directed the modification of the charge of discrimination and related forms to remove “Mx.” from the list of prefix options. - Commenced review of the content of EEOC’s “Know Your Rights” poster, which all covered employers are required by law to post in their workplaces. - Removed materials promoting gender ideology on the Commission’s internal and external websites and documents, including webpages, statements, social media platforms, forms, trainings, and others. The agency’s review and removal of such materials remains ongoing. Where a publicly accessible item cannot be immediately removed or revised, a banner has been added to explain why the item has not yet been brought into compliance. “Because of biological realities, each sex has its own, unique privacy interests, and women have additional safety interests, that warrant certain single-sex facilities at work and other spaces outside the home. It is neither harassment nor discrimination for a business to draw distinctions between the sexes in providing single-sex bathrooms or other similar facilities which implicate these significant privacy and safety interests. And the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County does not demand otherwise: the Court explicitly stated that it did ‘not purport to address bathrooms, locker rooms, or anything else of the kind,” said Acting Chair Lucas. Read the full announcement: https://lnkd.in/earZKtYy.