We address issues, cases and matters of statutory and regulatory compliance of employment law that can impact a business' growth and profitability.
On April 19, 2024, new regulations from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on the recently enacted Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) will be published in the Federal Register.
It’s hard to keep up with all of the recent changes in employment law and even harder to make sure your employee handbook is up to date. Plus, it’s a real pain to have to make revisions to your handbook and much easier to just let it be. But, employers who choose the latter do so at their peril. Here are three examples of changes in Illinois law that may require you to update your handbook.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently established a new standard for analyzing claims under the Federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act. In Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., the divided court held that a pregnant worker can show that the employer’s legitimate, non-discriminatory justifications are pretextual under the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework if its accommodation policies impose a "significant burden" on pregnant workers and its reasons are not "sufficiently strong." Over Justice Scalia scathing dissent, the Court vacated the Fourth Circuit's decision granting summary judgment to UPS, and remanded the case for further consideration in light of the Court’s new standard and interpretation of the statute.
On July 14, 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") issued Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination, which marks the first comprehensive update in over three decades. In the Enforcement Guidance, the EEOC forewarns that it will be much easier to demonstrate that pregnancy-related impairments are "disabilities" under the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). This change will expand employees’ rights under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act ("PDA") and require employers to make a reasonable accommodation to pregnant employees.