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Employer Triumphs Over EEOC In Background Check Lawsuit

Randi Klein Hyatt
Randi Klein Hyatt
09/16/2013
Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination
A Maryland federal court recently skewered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its disparate impact lawsuit challenging a nationwide employer’s use of background checks on applicants.  EEOC v. Freeman, No. RWT 09cv2573 (D. Md. Aug. 9, 2013).  The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted summary judgment in favor of the employer, heavily criticizing the EEOC’s shoddy assemblage of statistical data used in its attempt...
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Fourth Circuit Gives Bad News To NLRB And Union, Again.

Randi Klein Hyatt
Randi Klein Hyatt
09/12/2013
Agency Activity, Labor Law
Two  appellate courts have decided that the recess appointments Obama made of three NLRB members in January 2012 were made without proper legal authority resulting. therefore, with the NLRB acting without a valid quorum. Indeed, the Supreme Court has agreed to review the first such decision, Noel Canning Division of Noel Corp. v. NLRB, 705 F.3d 4901 (D.C. Cir. 2013), which held that the 2012 appointments were unconstitutional. In NLRB v. Enterprise...
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The IRS Has Spoken: Legal Same-Sex Marriage Recognized For Federal Tax Purposes

Randi Klein Hyatt
Randi Klein Hyatt
09/12/2013
Agency Activity, Legal Developments, Same-Sex Marriage
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service issued a joint news release and Revenue Ruling 2013-17, in which the agencies announced that same-sex married couples will be recognized as legally married for federal tax purposes, regardless of where they reside, so long as they were married in any U.S. state or territory, or a foreign country, that legally recognizes same-sex marriages.  This ruling implements federal tax aspects of the Supreme...
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Measuring Equality For All

Peter Saucier
Peter Saucier
08/30/2013
Agency Activity, Disability & Leave
For years Americans have strived to protect individuals with disabilities and veterans from discrimination.  If you can do the job, and do it well, you ought not be disadvantaged by a physical or mental impairment that does not interfere with your ability to do the job.  Moreover, if you served your country in the military you ought not be treated unfairly. Now, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, a division of the Department of...
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NLRB Takes Another Hit

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
08/26/2013
Agency Activity, Labor Law
Even though we now have the first complete NLRB in over a decade, the fallout from the Obama Administration’s recess appointments at the Board  continue to percolate through the courts.  A recent decision from a federal district court in Washington state has denied the Board’s petition for an injunction against an employer because acting general counsel Lafe Solomon’s appointment was “improper” and he lacked the power to authorize an...
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State Attorneys General Challenge EEOC Guidance on Background Checks

Clifford Geiger
Clifford Geiger
08/01/2013
Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination, State Law
Over the past two years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken an increasingly narrow view of when employers can use criminal background information to exclude a job applicant.  In April 2012, the EEOC  issued  Enforcement Guidance No. 915.002, which  suggests that employers must  conduct an individualized assessment of each job applicant’s criminal background and show “a demonstrably tight nexus” between the criminal...
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Thomas Perez Confirmed As Labor Secretary; New NLRB Nominees Named

Randi Klein Hyatt
Randi Klein Hyatt
07/23/2013
Agency Activity, Labor Law, Political Appointments
On July 18, 2013, the Senate confirmed Thomas Perez as labor secretary with a party-line vote of 54-46.  Perez is currently the head of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and will replace Hilda Solis, who resigned from the top labor post in January 2013.  Following his nomination in March, Republicans aggressively criticized Perez, citing to his alleged involvement in a quid pro quo arrangement between the DOJ and the City of St. Paul...
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Fourth Circuit Tosses NLRB’s “Worker Rights” Posting Requirement

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
06/18/2013
Agency Activity, Labor Law
The Fourth Circuit has agreed with the D.C. Circuit that the National Labor Relations Board exceeded its authority by promulgating a 2011 regulation that required employers to post a notice on worker rights in its recent decision in Chamber of Commerce v. NLRB, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 12034 (4th Cir. June 14, 2013).  This decision affirmed the district court's opinion that the National Labor Relations Act does not authorize or empower the Board to...
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NLRB Notice Rule Struck Down

Eric Paltell
Eric Paltell
05/09/2013
Agency Activity, Labor Law, Union Activity
On May, 7, 2013,  the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held  that the National Labor Relations Board lacked the authority to issue a  2011 rule which would have required all employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) to  post a workplace notice to employees.  The decision, National Association of Manufacturers v. NLRB, drove yet another stake in the heart of the Obama NLRB’s activist agenda. As...
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New Federal Guidelines for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors in Considering Criminal Records

Randi Klein Hyatt
Randi Klein Hyatt
03/13/2013
Agency Activity, Employment Discrimination
On January 29, 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) issued Directive 306, “Complying with Nondiscrimination Provisions: Criminal Record Restrictions and Discrimination Based on Race and National Origin.”  Effective upon its issuance, Directive 306 applies to all covered federal contractors and subcontractors, and requires contractors to carefully tailor the use of an applicant’s...
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