by Gregory Feit and Kaycee Portillo-Sorto In the landmark 1969 case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District,[1] the U.S. Supreme Court’s majority ruling famously declared that neither students nor teachers “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” The case involved a...
by Tyla A. Swinton and Lucia Mead Recently, I spoke to a friend of mine who serves as in-house employment counsel for a research facility. As in-house counsel, attorneys have to weigh overall company interests against human resource (HR) considerations, along with potential legal risks. However, a shift in the...
By Jill Kahn Marshall and Anna Beckelman On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy” which aims to “eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the Constitution, Federal civil rights...
By Ethan Krasnoo Concerns for the protections of vulnerable groups by federal commissions were at the forefront of social policies on the ballot with the recent U.S. presidential election. The 2024 election was widely described in the media as one where our very democracy was at stake, and these concerns...
Last Friday, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the United States Supreme Court overruled a 40-year-old judicial deference doctrine known as “Chevron deference,” named after the 1984 Supreme Court ruling in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which instructed courts that they should defer to federal administrative agencies’ readings on...
by Jill Kahn Marshall On June 27, 2023, the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act (PWFA) was signed into law, providing additional workplace protections for pregnant workers and workers experiencing pregnancy-related conditions. Last Friday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released draft regulations that further explain the parameters of the law. While...
In November 2021, the New York City Council passed a law regulating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) hiring tools by employers in the city, which will go into effect in January 2023; similar legislation has been proposed elsewhere in the United States and even at the federal level. These...
It seems the ink is hardly dry on a posting about COVID-19 vaccination policies in the workplace when there is a further legal development or news to share. In today’s news, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has just updated its COVID-19 technical assistance to address questions arising under...
On December 15, Business Insurance published an article entitled, “Biden Administration Faces Obstacles to Revising Employment Laws” and reached out to Partner Heidi Reavis for comment. Given that U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are semi-independent agencies with a majority of Republican Commissioners...
As companies increasingly strive to improve diversity in their workforce, employers are implementing various tactics in an attempt to make these goals a reality. One recent trend has been tying manager performance reviews and bonuses to achievements in diversity hiring. While such policies may be an effective method for companies...