EverythingPeople This Week!

As we wait for the OSHA guidance detailing how employers (over 100 in employment) can implement mandated vaccination for employees, employers need to keep in mind how they require vaccination and testing may impact proper pay for non-exempt employees.

Last month, the Supreme Court declined to take up the issue of whether the nation's schools must allow students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identities.  In that case, a 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, the court ruled in favor of Gavin Grimm, a transgender man who sued his Virginia high school for barring him from using the boys’ restroom.  Grimm stated that “[b]eing forced to use the nurse’s room, a private bathroom, and the girl’s...

From sexual harassment to discrimination to power abuse, harassment affects more than just a handful of employees. Harassment deteriorates culture and morale and can lead to psychological discomfort, leaving a job, or lawsuits. Why is this happening? And how can organizations work to prevent harassment before it begins, or hear about issues when they arise?

Since last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision employers would be correct in thinking that sexual orientation is protected by Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, and for most Michigan employers they would be correct. However, Michigan itself has its own anti employment discrimination law in the Elliot-Larsen Civil Right Act (ELCRA) and it too has a sex discrimination prohibition in it.  However, Michigan has not technically extended its laws to fully protect sex...

The European Union (EU) has long had pay equity laws since its founding by the Treaty of Rome in 1957.  A 2006 Directive (Directive 2006/54/EC) on equal treatment of women and men in matters of employment and occupation requires employers to ensure equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between women and men. It was complemented in 2014 by a European Commission Recommendation on pay transparency. As of March 2021, according to the latest Eurostat findings, the gender pay gap in...

The trend of reporting pay started with California and has moved to Illinois, which instituted its own phased in reporting requirements. The new amendments to the Illinois Equal Pay Act (IEPA) were signed into law (Senate Bill 1480 (SB 1480)) on March 23, 2021.  The certification requirement starts three years from the date of signing into law (March 23, 2024).  The previous amendment to the IEPA was in 2019, which prohibits employers from asking salary history of applicants.

At a hearing on April 28, 2021, the EEOC heard from a dozen invited experts on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on civil rights in the workplace. EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows said that the testimony of the panelist made clear that while the pandemic continues to have serious impacts on public health and our economy, it has also created a civil rights crisis for many of America’s workers.

How many times have recruiters reviewed resumes with titles that have little to no meaning and based decisions on those titles?  Mechanical Engineer, HR Business Partner, and others convey meaning but not depth.  And if employers use a job family approach, titles like Staff Engineer, Analyst, Project Manager, and Programmer provide some information at first glance, but again no context as to the work performed. 

Back in September of 2018, then Governor Rick Snyder enacted a ban-the-box law that removed questions about criminal history from Michigan’s employment application, and he encouraged private employers to do the same. This came after he signed a bill in March of the same year limiting the ability of city and county governments to enact ban-the-box laws when it comes to private employers. Indiana enacted a similar law the year before.

A recent study, conducted by Savanta and Resume.io, of 2,000 adults in the U.S. about the worst interview questions they’ve ever been asked found that that men and women may have significantly different experiences when interviewing. The study explored everything from tough questions that candidates dread to downright illegal ones — and uncovered notable differences in the nature of the questions that men and women often field.

The Biden administration is taking a hard look at the discriminatory aspects of artificial intelligence or AI.   In the past few years, AI bias has been in the news.  For example, Amazon dropped an AI recruitment program because it found that it was biased towards white males.  Other cases reported bias against African Americans in healthcare algorithms.  Facial recognition software has an underwhelming library of faces and has been identified as a leading cause of...

Today, March 24, 2021 is Equal Pay Day.  Equal Pay Day denotes how far into the new year women must work to be paid what men were paid the previous year. Started by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996, the goal was to raise awareness about the gender wage gap.  Although there are various analyses of what the gap is, all agree there is a gap.

In a recent survey by Time’s Up and the National Women’s Law Center, seven in 10 people (72%) who report sexual harassment faced some form of retaliation, including termination, lawsuits for defamation, and denied promotions.  The report is based on 3,317 requests for legal help submitted to Time's Up between January 1, 2018, and April 30, 2020.  In addition, one-third of workers (36%) said they experienced physical harassment, sexual assault, or rape. About 1 in 5 (18%)...

In 2014 the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) initiated an audit of Oracle headquarters.  As the audit progressed, OFCCP contended that Oracle violated Executive Order 11246 by having discriminatory pay practices.  On March 11, 2016 OFCCP issued a Notice of Violation against Oracle which led a Show Cause Order on June 8, 2016.   OFCCP filed a lawsuit with the Office of Administrative Law Judges on January 17, 2017 after conciliation efforts broke...

On September 22, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) titled “Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping.”  The EO arose because various federal agencies had a private diversity-consulting firm conduct a training session last June titled “Difficult Conversations About Race in Troubling Times.”