12-12-2017
2017 was a challenging year for many employers. The changes that come with a new presidential administration, the eruption of sexual harassment accusations in almost every industry - even within both houses of Congress, vigilance regarding the overtime rule, pay equity, the expansion of LGBT rights in the workplace and challenges to the Affordable Care Act kept employers on their toes. At EPS, we focused on providing guidance and solutions to employers on these issues, including the following:
- Since the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, the issue of LGBT rights has become one of the most salient issues in our public discourse. Almost every day in 2017 there was a news story or article relating to LGBT discrimination or the LGBT community in general. Our Chicago-based Consultant Shaan Rizvi, provided an overview in his article The Latest LGBT Legal Updates for the Workplace.
- Rhonda Moll, our New York-based consultant, set the employment law stage for the incoming Trump administration, and Jody Stein in Los Angeles, California, distilled the critical guidance employers needed, and likely will need, in these contentious times in her piece Disrupted Discourse: How to Sustain a Respectful Workplace in the Current Political Climate.
- The upheavals at Uber, Fox News and the subsequent allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Mark Halperin
and Kevin Spacey, to name just a few, pushed sexual harassment and executive influence on corporate culture to the forefront. Amy Jacobs, our senior consultant from Dallas/Fort Worth, examined our progress on these issues in Faragher/Ellerth to Fox News; The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same. Houston's Molly Holub took a deep dive into the executive's role in these challenging situations with Lessons From Uber: Training for the Flawed High Performer. - We also shared our 21+ years of expertise in training and investigations with Dallas/Fort Worth-based Susan Sorrells' insight on effective Title IX investigations, Philadelphia's Jessica Caspe's Mitigating the Impact of Unconscious Bias in the Workplace and New York's Lori Waxman's reminder that, especially now, Harassment and Discrimination Training: Not a One-Time Deal.
- As a women-owned business, it's natural that our Denver-based Senior Consultant Denise Kay examined the topical issue Progress and Pitfalls: Women's Equality in the Workplace, Do Your Policies and Practices Stand Up to the Test?
- You may view our full whitepapers archive, meet the entire EPS team and listen to our podcasts on a wide variety of human resources and employment law topics.