05-01-2025

Acting EEOC chair Andrea Lucas announced Shannon Royce as her new chief of staff. In announcing Royce’s hire, Lucas said that she was overseeing the “most ambitious civil rights agenda since practically the 1960s and 1970s.” Royce is the former Christian Employers Alliance (CEA) president, having left the organization in December. She was a member of President Trump’s first term administration, leading the Center for Faith-Based and Community Partnerships. Royce’s hiring may suggest that the EEOC will focus on Christian rights in its approach to workplace compliance with the anti-discrimination laws.

04-30-2025

The Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming legislatures have enacted laws recognizing gender as solely binary—male and female—and unchangeable, joining Iowa and other states that have passed similar laws. A new federal executive order defined sex as binary and immutable earlier this year. The EEOC chair has indicated her desire to rescind prior agency guidance related to gender identity once the agency has a quorum again. Employers in these states should consult with legal counsel regarding their obligations.

04-29-2025

Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Army to use “combat-neutral” fitness requirements for soldiers to be eligible for combat. Using “combat-neutral” standards will likely reduce the number of women who qualify for combat roles within the Army. Thus, potentially making it more difficult for the military to recruit and retain women for some military positions. These new standards will be phased in beginning in June and implemented by October 2025.

04-24-2025

A North Dakota federal district court has permanently blocked the EEOC from enforcing its regulation requiring employers to accommodate employees who have abortions or undergo certain fertility treatments. The Catholic Benefits Association and the Bismarck Diocese sued the EEOC over its regulations regarding reproductive protections for employees under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The PWFA required employers to provide reasonable accommodation for a worker’s pregnancy or childbirth-related needs. The judge concluded that the association and diocese established that the PWFA violated their constitutional right to religious freedom.

04-23-2025

Three law students filed a lawsuit against the EEOC in a Washington, D.C., federal court. They assert that the scrutiny over the diversity policies at 20 law firms is illegal and may expose personal information about attorneys and job applicants. Acting chair Andrea Lucas asked for information from these firms, including law students’ names, sex, race, contact information, academic performance, compensation, participation in affinity groups, and numerous details about their employment history. The three anonymous students claim Lucas did not have the power to require law firms to provide extensive information about the firms’ respective diversity initiatives.

04-22-2025

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive intended to help increase the number of men going to college or enrolling in skills training programs. The gap between men and women in the state enrolling in additional education has widened in recent years (Bridge Michigan). This growing gap is evident in an ongoing community college program that offers reduced fees or free tuition to resident adults. 67% of the enrollees in that program are female.

04-17-2025

A UC Riverside School of Business professor led a study on how sharing information about employee pay alters workplace relations. The study by Professor Boris Maciejovsky was published in the Journal of Business Ethics. According to the study, disclosing employee compensation impacts “workplace ethics, motivation, and performance.” When employees learn how their wages compare to that of their peers, “feelings of entitlement—and the salary they believe they deserve—can rise or fall depending on how close they are to the top of the performance rankings lists.” (UCR News)

04-16-2025

As IL law students at top schools consider their pursuit of large law firms, they are looking at the executive orders and where firms stand with the administration. Some students are concerned about which of these firms will survive. Other students wonder if they can do the pro bono work that interests them at firms that have reached an agreement with the administration.

04-15-2025

The Associated Press secured a copy of an internal email from the Food and Drug Administration telling some employees that they do not have to return to the office. FDA staffers returned to work in mid-March based on an order they received this year. The agency instituted a hybrid work arrangement decades before the COVID-19 pandemic. It used the perk of working two days a week from home to help recruit highly-trained experts who could earn higher pay working outside the federal government.