employment practices liability News

Companies May Be Employers of Contract, Franchise Workers Under US Labor Rule

A U.S. labor board on Oct. 26 issued a final rule making it easier for workers and unions to hold companies liable for labor law violations by their franchisees and contractors, reviving an Obama-era standard heavily criticized by trade groups. …

Walmart Sued by EEOC Over Test That Screened Out Disabled Workers

The U.S. agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws said on Wednesday that it had sued Walmart Inc over allegations it fired hourly workers with disabilities who could not pass a computer-based test. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said that …

Executives Go Quiet on Diversity After Affirmative Action Ruling

US executives drastically cut back on public discussions of workplace diversity last quarter, in the first earnings season since the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action sent a chill through corporate boardrooms. Mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion on earnings …

Critics of Workplace Diversity Efforts Eye Civil War-Era Law

Several suits filed on behalf of White workers following the US Supreme Court’s decision outlawing affirmative action in higher education are banking on a Civil War-era statute guaranteeing equal rights to Black Americans to challenge the legality of corporate diversity, …

US Workers Exposed to Extreme Heat Have No Consistent Protection

Santos Brizuela spent more than two decades laboring outdoors, persisting despite a bout of heatstroke while cutting sugarcane in Mexico and chronic laryngitis from repeated exposure to the hot sun while on various other jobs. But last summer, while on …

McDonald’s, CEO Must Face Ex-Security Executive’s Race Bias Claims

A federal judge in Chicago on Tuesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing McDonald’s Corp. of pushing out a Black executive after he criticized CEO Chris Kempczinski for appearing to blame the parents of a girl shot in a McDonald’s …

Rail Whistleblowers Fired for Voicing Safety Concerns

Hours before a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio and erupted in fire in February, a judge ruled a former railroad employee could proceed with a lawsuit claiming he had been harassed for years by managers who said he reported …

Ex-Trump Administration Officials Target Corporate Diversity Efforts

Activision Blizzard Inc and Kellogg Co have joined a growing list of major U.S. companies to face claims from a group founded by former Trump administration officials that efforts to diversify their workforces amount to illegal discrimination. America First Legal …

Umpire Hernandez Loses Again in Lawsuit Versus MLB

Umpire Ángel Hernández lost again in his racial discrimination lawsuit against Major League Baseball when a federal appeals court refused to reinstate his case on Tuesday. The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a 2021 District Court decision that …

InclusionScore CEO: Recent Events Highlight Need to Rein in Costly D&I Risk

At the end of June, James Felton Keith read the news of the U.S. Supreme Court’s majority rulings regarding affirmative action in higher education, and the application of free speech in anti-discrimination law. At around the same time, the outgoing …