The City of Portland, Oregon has amended the Portland Civil Rights Ordinance to clarify that religious discrimination includes discrimination on the basis of atheism and agnosticism. In a press release, Commissioner Anna Fritz, who submitted the ordinance to the City Council, stated that “Freedom of religion includes freedom not to affiliate with a religious belief. Read more
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced that it will delay the filing deadline for the submission of the EEO-1 survey. Companies which are required to submit EEO-1 data usually receive a postcard with log-in information in early January, but a record-setting shutdown which shuttered “non-essential” government functions starting in December of 2018 Read more
The Denver Anti-Discrimination Office (DADO) has revised the City and County of Denver Anti-Discrimination Poster with information about employer obligations to obey federal as well as municipal law, and additional details on DADO’s role in enforcing the law. This represents the first change to this poster since it was created a decade ago. Colorado employers Read more
On February 26, 2018, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals became the second federal appeals court to hold that sexual orientation discrimination is sex discrimination under the federal law which prohibits employers from making employment decisions based on sex. The 10-3 decision follows on the heels of the 7th Circuit, which in 2017 became the Read more
In the latest move towards modernization from the federal government, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has just launched a new nationwide system, the EEOC Public Portal, to allow individuals to submit and track information about potential discrimination claims online. The system underwent a soft launch in five EEOC field offices prior to its Read more
Last month, Illinois amended its Human Rights Act (IHRA) (775 ILCS 5/) to clarify the protection of employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs in the workplace. Individuals were already protected from discrimination based on religion but the amended statute, known as the “Religious Garb Law” (SB 1697), makes certain protections more explicit. The new law prohibits Read more
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has given notice of a proposal that would require certain employers to report employee pay information as part of the required Employer Information Report (EEO-1) starting in 2017. The EEO-1 is an annual report that requires most federal contractors (with 50 or more employees) and private employers (with Read more
Effective October 1, 2015, Maryland employers are prohibited from discriminating against interns with respect to the terms, conditions or privileges of their internships (including offering and terminating internships), on the basis of the individual’s race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. The law also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for Read more
President Obama recently issued an Executive Order that protects federal employees and employees of federal contractors from discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Specifically, the President’s July 21, 2014 Executive Order adds the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of characteristics protected from discrimination under Executive Read more
Effective immediately, Governor Cuomo amends the New York State Human Rights Law providing certain protections for interns. The governor’s move comes on the heels of a recent federal court decision (Wang V. Phoenix Satellite TV US, Inc.) where the court found that an unpaid intern could not bring a sexual harassment claim against her “employer” Read more
