In a landmark decision, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission held that discrimination against transsexual employees constitutes “sex discrimination” in violation of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While there has been a progressive shift toward protection of gender identity in state and federal court decisions and state statutes, the EEOC’s decision [...]
In honor of Mother’s Day, we consider how employers can create workplace policies that recognize the needs of employees – mothers, fathers, even neighbors – with caregiving responsibilities. Hiring should focus on the applicant’s qualifications, not pregnancy, child care, or other family issues. Assumptions and stereotypes are dangerous. Not all women take on caregiving [...]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) says pregnancy discrimination is still rampant, more than 30 years after the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (“PDA”). Hearings were just held in Washington to discuss the problem. Pregnancy discrimination claims made up only 5.8% of the agency’s caseload last year, but the EEOC is nonetheless poised to [...]
Breastfeeding is widely regarded as ideal for healthy development of infants. Due to workplace barriers, many mothers who breastfeed their infants abandon breastfeeding when they return to work. A growing movement supports workplace policies to facilitate breastfeeding and while employer obligations already exist, they exist without much fanfare. That is likely to change; are you [...]
As seen in the January, 30 2012 CT Law Tribune