Employment Law Blog
DC Circuit Lowers the Bar for Establishing Prohibited Discrimination under Title VII
June 6, 2022
Note: Ms. Wheeler co-authored an amicus brief on behalf of MWELA in support of the plaintiff in Chambers v. District of Columbia.
On June 3, 2022, the full court of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held in a 9-3 decision in Chambers v. District of Columbia, that when an employer transfers an employee...
Milestone Agreement to Pay U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Equally: Implications, and the Equal Pay Act in 2022
May 23, 2022
Last week, the United States Soccer Federation announced that the United States Women’s National Team Players Association and the United States National Soccer Team Players Association have agreed to terms of historic collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that achieve equal pay between the United States Women’s National Team...
Congress Ends Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Harassment Cases
March 29, 2022
On March 3, President Biden signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. The bill adds a new Chapter 4 to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), a law passed in 1925 to ensure that courts would enforce arbitration agreements contained in maritime contracts or other contracts “...
Texas Catches Up to the #MeToo Movement with New Legislation
December 14, 2021
In a surprising move, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law three bills: Senate Bill 45 (“S.B. 45”), Senate Bill 282 (“S.B. 282”), and House Bill 21 (“H.B. 21), that will extend protections for sexual harassment victims in the workplace. Each bill took effect on September 1, 2021, revising vital parts of the Texas...
Protections for Employees Who Report Workplace Discrimination
September 30, 2021
While thousands of employees each year submit complaints of discrimination against their employers, many more experience workplace discrimination and do not submit a formal complaint or even report it internally. A 2016 study by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) noted that three out of four individuals who...
Biden Administration Relies on Supreme Court Decision to Bolster LGBTQ+ Protections for Students and Employees
September 10, 2021
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) prohibits employers from discriminating against any individual “because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(a). Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681–1688, prohibits discrimination on the basis...
Seventh Circuit Bars Minister’s Claims of Sex- and Disability-Based Harassment
August 3, 2021
The ministerial exception stems from the First Amendment of the Constitution’s Religion Clauses and provides religious organizations a broad exemption from employment discrimination laws that would otherwise apply to the hiring and firing of ministerial employees. The Seventh Circuit, sitting en banc, recently held on...
Can Employers Make COVID-19 Vaccinations Mandatory?
August 2, 2021
Now that the vaccines for COVID-19 are widely available in the United States, many schools are preparing for in-person instruction in the fall and more workplaces are starting to move away from remote work and bring their employees back into the office. Of course, many essential workers have remained in their workplaces...
Potential Implications of Supreme Court Decision on Employment Law
July 15, 2021
On June 17, 2021, the US Supreme Court released its decision in the case Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. The case was brought by Catholic Social Services, which claimed that the City government violated its First Amendment right to free exercise of religion by refusing to work with the foster care agency unless it agreed to...
Can Employers Shorten Discrimination Claim Deadlines by Contract?
July 7, 2021
Every legal claim has a time limit within which a person must file a lawsuit—or a complaint with a government agency—or give up the claim. This deadline is known as the “statute of limitations,” as it is often a time limit written in the statute that creates the legal claim. There are a variety of reasons legislators have for...
