On Monday, July 26, 2010, which was the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued new final regulations regarding service animals and the use of Segways (mobility devices).
Dogs and miniature horses individually trained to mitigate the effects of a disability are now the only [...]
It was 20 years ago today (July 26, 2010, then 1990) that President George H.W. Bush signed into law the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
After court decisions had whittled down the scope of the ADA through the years, Congress sought to restore the robust ADA that the authors had envisioned and in 2008 passed [...]
Under terms of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), employment decisions cannot be based on a person’s genetic information or family history of genetic markers in disease and disability.
The law went into effect Nov. 21, 2009, and already the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has received 80-plus complaint filings–and this despite the fact that GINA [...]
No stranger to labor disputes or the courtroom, Wal-Mart has now been hit with a class-action gender bias lawsuit affecting as many as 1.5 million female employees.
In a close ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco voted 6 to 5 to certify class-action status. Wal-Mart immediately said it would appeal to the [...]
The Paycheck Fairness Act now under consideration by the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee was introduced by then-Senator Hillary Clinton in January 2009. The House of Representatives approved its version shortly thereafter, and now, after a long hibernation, it has roared back to life in the Senate more than a year later.
For employers, it [...]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been ordered to pay $4.56 million in attorneys’ fees and "reasonable" expenses after shoddily pursuing a sexual harassment lawsuit against a trucking firm and losing.
In ordering the reparations, Chief Judge Linda Reade of the Northern Division Court of Iowa said the EEOC had "wholly abandoned its statutory duties" [...]
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), which took effect Nov. 21, 2009, not only forbids employers and health insurers from collecting individuals’ genetic information and using that in their decision-making; it also prohibits the solicitation of family medical histories, again to prevent discrimination in decision-making.
As the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out, however, GINA could put [...]
When the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in recent years noticed an increase in complaints about employment background checks and their effect on minorities, it unveiled its E-RACE (Eradicating Racism And Colorism from Employment) program.
With adverse hiring decisions arising from background checks still hurting black and Latin applicants, the agency is reissuing its warning about [...]
Complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in fiscal 2009 fell to 93,277, but that was still the second highest total ever. In addition, the agency obtained $376 million in relief for complainants.
Topping the list were charges alleging discrimination based on race (36 percent), followed by retaliation (also 36 percent) and then sex-based [...]
Albertsons, the grocery chain, has settled three race, color and national origin discrimination lawsuits for $8.9 million but denied culpability at the same time. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuits alleged complicity by managers in committing racial and anti-Semitic slurs, epithets and graffiti.
The lawsuits were filed on behalf of 168 employees at an Albertsons [...]
