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In 2023, the Equal Employment Alternative Fee reaffirmed its standing because the federal watchdog for office discrimination, after years of pulling again on litigation exercise underneath the Trump administration’s appointees. With the long-awaited affirmation of EEOC commissioner Kalpana Kotagal earlier this 12 months, the company—which is led by 5 commissioners appointed by the president—now has a Democratic majority, permitting the company to interrupt its impasse and transfer ahead with its regulatory agenda.
In a return to kind, the EEOC filed 143 employment discrimination lawsuits over the last fiscal 12 months, which ended on September 30—greater than double the variety of filings issued in fiscal 12 months 2022. The company additionally redoubled its efforts with systemic circumstances—a particular designation used for a sample of discrimination that has a broad influence on an trade or area—with 25 such lawsuits, the very best variety of filings over the previous 5 years.
Past rising the cadence of its litigation, the EEOC issued its interpretation of latest legal guidelines just like the Pregnant Staff Equity Act (PWFA), which went into impact earlier this 12 months, in addition to renewed guidance on harassment within the office; the usage of synthetic intelligence within the office and the potential for discrimination has been a major focus as effectively and a difficulty that Democratic and Republican commissioners have been aligned on.
The lawsuits introduced by the EEOC this 12 months signify the complete spectrum of points that the company is designed to handle, from sexual harassment to discrimination in hiring. However the EEOC solely pursues litigation for a handful of circumstances that come its means, so its selection of lawsuits additionally indicators its priorities—whether or not meaning specializing in new discrimination legal guidelines or taking a systemic strategy to case choice—and provides perception into how the EEOC will strategy enforcement in 2024.
Being pregnant discrimination
The PWFA went into impact in June, requiring employers to supply cheap lodging to pregnant and postpartum staff. Since then, the EEOC has proposed a rule outlining its broad interpretation of the legislation, which protects staff dealing with any pregnancy-related medical situations. In 2023, the company filed multiple lawsuits towards employers who allegedly fired pregnant staff. The EEOC additionally not too long ago settled a lawsuit against Frontier Airlines that was filed 4 years in the past, alleging discrimination towards pregnant and lactating staff. The case aligns with the company’s give attention to implementing each the PWFA and the Pump Act, the latter of which forces employers to supply break time and a non-public area for staff to pump; as a part of the settlement, Frontier was additionally anticipated to undertake new insurance policies—comparable to permitting pilots to pump within the cockpit throughout sure stretches of a flight—marking a departure from norms within the airline trade.
AI-related discrimination
Over the previous two years, the EEOC has turned its consideration to the rise of synthetic intelligence within the office—specifically, making an attempt to grasp how employers are more and more utilizing the expertise for hiring and employment selections. In Could, the company shared guidance for employers on how the expertise might engender discrimination with out the proper guardrails, together with technical assistance on how employers can guarantee they adjust to the Individuals with Disabilities Act. In 2023, the EEOC settled its first AI-related lawsuit, which alleged that the China-based on-line training firm iTutorGroup programmed its software software program to display out U.S. candidates on the premise of age. (The settlement features a $365,000 payout, although iTutorGroup continues to disclaim the allegations.) The company has already highlighted AI-related discrimination as a precedence in its strategic enforcement plan for the following 4 years.
Incapacity discrimination
Whereas the EEOC has pinpointed AI expertise as a possible supply of bias, a number of of its circumstances this 12 months tackled different types of incapacity discrimination. The company settled a number of lawsuits towards employers like Papa John’s, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the tech firm Cloudbeds for failing to supply lodging to disabled staff, together with a $750,000 settlement with the electrical energy supplier PNM. Another case requires a big payout from Greenback Common—$1 million—over allegations that the corporate required a preemployment medical examination and rescinded job provides primarily based on these outcomes. The EEOC additionally took on a lawsuit towards UPS for allegedly screening out disabled candidates and multiple cases towards Walmart, over claims that the retail big failed to supply lodging and unfairly terminated disabled staff.
Office harassment
From 2016 to 2022, a 3rd of the discrimination prices acquired by the EEOC included allegations of harassment. Looking forward to the following few years, the EEOC has made office harassment a key a part of its enforcement plan, to assist tackle systemic harassment and defend significantly susceptible communities towards harassment. In 2023, the EEOC sued Walmart over alleged sexual harassment and retaliation—amongst many different firms—and introduced a series of lawsuits focusing on harassment points at Las Vegas eating places, together with a case towards Thomas Keller’s restaurant group. The company additionally settled a litany of cases this 12 months that alleged sexual harassment throughout completely different industries, typically coupled with retaliation or different types of harassment; one such settlement concerned a $400,000 payout from Chipotle.
Racial and spiritual discrimination
The harassment circumstances taken on by the EEOC typically overlap with different types of discrimination. That’s evident from the litigation that the company has pursued this 12 months, which targets a number of notable employers: a lawsuit against Tesla alleges that the corporate condoned harassment of its Black staff and retaliated towards those that tried to handle the difficulty, whereas one other lawsuit against Chipotle alleges {that a} Muslim worker was harassed and discriminated towards for sporting a hijab. The EEOC has additionally sued Hooters over allegations that the corporate didn’t rehire staff who have been Black or had darker pores and skin tones after pandemic-era layoffs. The company additionally settled another racial discrimination and retaliation case towards Hooters for $650,000, together with several sizable settlements with different firms and a $1.2 million payout from Whiting-Turner, over allegations that the development firm failed to handle repeated discrimination towards Black staff who have been engaged on construction of a Google information middle.
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