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“ We collaborate with employers and employees to build respectful organizations through high-quality training, objective and unbiased complaint investigations, human resources and employment law expert testimony, and a wide range of human resources consulting services. ”

The EPS Team

LATEST NEWS AND STORIES

  • Employee Alleging Discrimination Must Show Comparator

    The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its precedent that employees alleging discrimination must point to a similarly situated comparator outside the protected class. (Bravo v. Dallas Independent School District) Joe Bravo, the plaintiff, had argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services had relaxed that requirement. The Fifth Circuit’s decision reflects a divide among the circuit courts.

  • One Quarter of Workers Stuck in Mid-Career Stall

    Employer Insight: A May 2026 study from NYU and The Burning Glass Institute shared that 24.2% of mid-career professionals have stalled careers. They defined stalled as a period of five years or more without a meaningful promotion and negligible wage increases. Most official statistics do not track this information, with the researchers calling it a “hidden crisis.”

  • Firing for Offensive Remarks Upheld by Appellate Court as Non-Discriminatory

    In an unpublished opinion, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for an employer that fired an employee for offensive remarks. Barbie Bassett worked for WLBT, a Gray Media Group station in Mississippi. Bassett worked as the morning news anchor and co-host for a mid-morning show. WBLT required its anchors to avoid any conduct that might “reflect negatively on [the TV station] or its reputation in the community.” Anchors were also restricted from acting in a way that could “degrade” them or subject them to “public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule, or tend to shock or offend the community.”

  • Stanford Study Found Bias in AI Tools

    Employer Insight: A paper led by Stanford researchers evaluated over 4 million job applications from 3 million job applicants across 156 employers. The “Algorithmic Monocultures in Hiring” paper showed outcomes for 1,746 individual job positions. It concluded that 10.62% of outcomes reflected an adverse impact on Black applicants based on an analysis of the applications position by position.

  • May 2026 Article Roundup

    The Workplace Is Shifting Again — And This Time, AI Is at the Center The world of work is undergoing another seismic shift, and the headlines tell a story that is equal parts innovation, disruption, and recalibration. With AI literacy mandates, organizations are being pushed to rethink what “work” really means in 2026.

  • Temporary COVID Telework Did Not Alter Essential Functions for Accommodation Analysis

    Temporary telework offered by an employer during the COVID-19 pandemic does not preclude requiring in-person work as an essential function of a job under the ADA per the Fifth Circuit.

  • California Directs Exploration of AI Job Loss Mitigation as Meta Slashes Jobs

    A new California executive order directs state agencies to find ways to limit anticipated job losses from AI. Some of the suggested methods from the order include severance policies, subsidized employment, and other means to support displaced workers.

  • No Hostile Environment Claim for Single Sensitivity Training

    The Colorado Department of Corrections required its employees, including Joshua Young, a White man, to attend a training program on racial sensitivity. Young said the training was so extreme that it created a hostile and discriminatory work environment for him.

  • CEO Average Age Jumps Up

    CEOs are 10 years older than they were 20 years ago, with average ages at the time of appointment rising from 47 to 55. The average age of a CEO is currently 61. That age jump is five times the increase in the average age of the U.S.’s college-educated workforce. CEOs join their respective companies older and at a higher level of seniority than ever before.