Philadelphia has passed legislation prohibiting discrimination and requiring accommodation on the basis of needs related to menstruation, perimenopause, or menopause, becoming the first major U.S. city to explicitly offer these expansive protections. Only Rhode Island currently protects menopause, although New York is considering a similar bill.
Philadelphia amended its Fair Employment Practices Ordinance on December 19, 2025, to add these conditions as protected classes.… Continue Reading
Following acting chair Andrea Lucas’s earlier pledge to more aggressively enforce civil rights laws against employers who disadvantage U.S. workers, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released a new Technical Assistance document cautioning companies that preferring H-1B visa holders may constitute unlawful national origin discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.… Continue Reading
On December 10, 2025, the Department of Justice filed a complaint in Minnesota federal court against Minneapolis Public Schools (“MPS”) Special School District No. 1, its Board of Directors, and the MPS Superintendent. The Complaint alleges that the Defendants are discriminating against teachers based on their race, color, sex, and national origin in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, based on provisions in the Defendants’ collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the teachers’ union.… Continue Reading
Just before Thanksgiving, Pennsylvania gave some employees another reason to give thanks. On November 25, 2025, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act into law. The law amends the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) to define “race” and “religious creed”—two classes which are legally protected against workplace discrimination—to include certain hairstyles and head coverings.… Continue Reading
The City of Seattle recently succeeded in securing a partial injunction against the Trump Administration’s enforcement of two executive orders (EOs) under which the Administration threatened to withhold millions in federal grant funding to the City. Judge Barbara J. Rothstein’s decision in the Western District of Washington, if upheld on appeal, has significant implications for federal grant recipients and the conditions that may be imposed on federal funding related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and gender issues.… Continue Reading
Originally introduced in the Senate in March 2025, Representative Donald Norcross (D-NJ) introduced the Faster Labor Contracts Act (“FLCA”) to the House of Representatives on September 16, 2025. The FLCA seeks to hasten the bargaining of first collective bargaining agreements. According to the Proposed Bill, average number of days for bargaining a first contract were well over a year — 465 days.… Continue Reading
Circuit Split Over Thryv Remedies. On October 20, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit generally upheld expanded make-whole remedies contemplated by the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) in Thryv, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 22 (2022). But since Halloween this year, both the Fifth and the Sixth Circuits joined the Third Circuit in rejecting Thryv remedies.… Continue Reading
Earlier last month, the Senate confirmed over 100 of President Trump’s nominees en bloc in a 51‑47 party-line vote. The confirmed nominees included Brittany Bull Panuccio as an EEOC Commissioner, Andrew Rogers as Administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, Jonathan Berry as Solicitor for the DOL.
EEOC Commissioner Brittany Bull Panuccio
Prior to her May 6, 2025, nomination by President Trump, Panuccio worked as an assistant US Attorney in Florida handling criminal and civil appeals.… Continue Reading
After briefly releasing — and then quickly withdrawing — its regulatory agenda last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) has republished its Spring 2025 unified agenda. According to the DOL’s press release, the Spring 2025 agenda reflects a focus on transparency, deregulatory actions, and clarifying employer obligations across a range of labor and employment issues.… Continue Reading
Marc Seawright, former Director of Information Governance and Strategy at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), submitted a formal complaint with the EEOC alleging discrimination and harassment based on sex (specifically, gender identity and sexual orientation), as well as a hostile work environment. Seawright, who identifies as a queer transgender man, resigned from his position on June 18, 2025.… Continue Reading