The Labor & Employment Blog is a forum for practitioners and Bloomberg BNA editors to share ideas, raise issues, and network with colleagues.
June 18, 2013
by Lydell C. Bridgeford
Legal scholarship sometimes gets a bad rap for being too theoretical to address the complexities of modern society, but this isn't the case for legal scholarship on employment discrimination law, explains law professor Paul M. Secunda.
May 7, 2013
David S. Fortney, a management lawyer with Fortney & Scott in Washington, D.C., talks about the pros and cons of commencing litigation against the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs because of a compliance review.
April 22, 2013
Marita Etcubañez, director of programs at the Asian American Justice Center, discusses how implicit bias and stereotypes of Asian Americans can hinder their career advancement in the workplace.
April 8, 2013
ReNika C. Moore, a director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., offers an overview of pending litigation and hiring policies that have gained the attention of the legal advocacy group.
March 26, 2013
Jones Day attorney Alison B.Marshall weighs in on the renewed focus by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to combat pay discrimination based on race, gender, and ethnicity.
March 20, 2013
Beth A. Ronnenburg, president of Berkshire Associates Inc., discusses how updated data on the U.S. workforce issued by the Census Bureau will affect federal contractors establishing placement goals for women and minorities and what contractors need to understand about the goals.
January 23, 2013
Bloomberg BNA caught up with Shirley A. Davis Sheppard, Ph.D., vice president of diversity and inclusion at the Society for Human Resource Management, to discuss the organization's efforts to develop standards for measuring the performance of corporate D&I programs.
January 7, 2013
Bloomberg BNA spoke with Eric B. Meyer, a partner at Dilworth Paxson's Philadelphia office, to find out if the four-year strategic enforcement plan approved by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission signals a major shift in the commission's enforcement agenda.
December 18, 2012
R. Scott Oswald, a managing principal at The Employment Law Group, weighs in on legal developments affecting plaintiffs' attorneys who represent employees in Age Discrimination in Employment Act litigation.
November 26, 2012
Labor mediator Amy L. Lieberman shares her experience with counseling employers in negotiations with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over consent decrees, especially provisions on anti-harassment and non-discrimination training for employees and managers.
November 20, 2012
Matthew J. Camardella, a partner at Jackson Lewis, LLP, talks about the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs under an Obama Administration's second term, pre-employment tests, potential effects of the Census Bureau's data tool on affirmative action planning.
October 31, 2012
Stewart S. Manela, chair of the American Bar Association's Section of Labor and Employment Law tells Bloomberg BNA how his team planned the 6th annual membership conference that runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 in Atlanta so that it appeals to the section's diverse constituency.
October 23, 2012
Bloomberg BNA recently spoke with Stephanie R. Thomas, Ph.D., the founder and CEO of Thomas Econometrics, a human resources firm specializing in statistical and economic consulting, about the Office of Federal Compliance Programs' proposed rules to strengthen affirmative action programs for veterans and people with disabilities. In this Q&A, Thomas outlines what she thinks federal contractors should do to prepare for the new regulations, and discusses the agency's attempt to overhaul compensation audits aimed at federal contractors.
October 9, 2012
California has among the nation's toughest labor laws prohibiting discrimination, but Claudia Center, of the Legal Aid Society's Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC) in San Francisco, says her organization and its clients still need the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to pursue its current agenda.
September 25, 2012
Donald R. Livingston, a partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and former general counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, shares what he thinks are noteworthy developments to emerge in 2012 from EEOC policy guidance and litigation.
September 10, 2012
Labor attorney Jonathan A. Segal lauds the mediation program at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but notes that employers should walk into the initial mediation conference with realistic expectations about settling the discrimination charge.
August 27, 2012
In this Bloomberg BNA Q&A, HR consultant Carla Irwin advises federal contractors that smart compliance with the internet applicant rule enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs starts with identifying all the ways in which the company recruits and screens job applicants.
August 17, 2012
Mark Toth, chief legal officer at ManpowerGroup North America, discusses the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's release of updated enforcement guidance on employers' use of individuals' arrest and conviction records to make hiring decisions. He also weighs in on conducting social media background checks on job applicants.
July 16, 2012
Valerie J. Vickers, board chair of the National Industry Liaison Group, asserts that federal contractors deserve a prominent seat at the table as the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs aims to overhaul regulations to ensure contractors are not discriminating against applicants and workers based on race, sex, disability and veteran status.
July 3, 2012
Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) has been on the market for over 20 years, but a slow economic recovery and increased enforcement activity by federal civil rights agencies have produced new trends affecting claims covered by EPLI, says Thomas P. Hams, EPLI practice leader for Aon Risk Solutions.
June 18, 2012
Bloomberg BNA recently spoke with Shirley J. Wilcher, who oversaw the Office of Federal Compliance Programs during the Clinton Administration, about the underlying factors that drive regulatory reforms to ensure federal contractors meet their affirmative action obligations.
June 4, 2012
Terisa E. Chaw, executive director of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), discusses why her organization is closely monitoring the Eighth Circuit's EEOC v. CRST Van Expedited Inc. case and class action strategies post-Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes.
May 30, 2012
Gregory T. Chambers, president of the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA), explains why corporate America and the federal government need to stay committed to affirmative action programs. AAAA, founded in 1974, represents professionals who manage affirmative action, equal opportunity, diversity inclusion and human resource programs in the private and public sectors.
May 8, 2012
John Piatt , a director of equal employment opportunity at the Biddle Consulting Group, isn't convinced that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is finished with efforts to...
April 9, 2012
Celia M. Joseph, an attorney in the Philadelphia office of Fisher & Phillips LLP, talks about legal battles that may surface because of proposed reforms to strengthen federal contractors' nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations for veterans and people with disabilities. She also discusses the legal avenues available for challenging newly minted regulations.
March 27, 2012
Cara Yates Crotty, a partner at the law firm Constangy Brooks and Smith, LLP., explains why some companies that are awarded federal contractors may fail to realize they have to comply with nondiscrimination and affirmative action regulations enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
March 12, 2012
Chris Lindholm, a consultant on affirmative action policies for federal contractors, discusses the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' budget justification for fiscal year 2013 that was recently submitted to Congress. The document outlines the agency's funding proposals and enforcement priorities.
February 27, 2012
This week the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) will hold its annual membership meeting in Washington, D.C., so Bloomberg BNA caught up with Rae T. Vann, general counsel of the group, to discuss what members can expect at the three-day event. The 35-year-old employers' association represents some 300 of the largest employers in equal employment opportunity and affirmative action compliance matters.
February 14, 2012
Eric M. Dunleavy, Ph.D., an industrial-organizational psychologist and principal consultant at DCI Consulting Group, says he isn't opposed to regulatory change in and of itself, but the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs needs to take a practical approach to its proposals on conducting compensation audits.
January 30, 2012
Bloomberg BNA decided to pick the brain of Judy Young, an expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act, about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s enforcement of the ADA Amendments Act. In fiscal year 2011, EEOC filed 60 suits under ADAAA, up from nine the previous year.
January 17, 2012
Constance S. Barker, a commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, tells Bloomberg BNA why the EEOC is re-valuating its small business liaison efforts. An EEOC commissioner since July 2008, Barker heads a new internal task force aimed at helping small businesses comply with federal anti-discrimination laws.
January 3, 2012
More co-workers are connecting online through social-networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but that doesn’t mean the company’s sexual harassment policy should be ignored, explains Donna M. Ballman, a labor attorney, who recently spoke with BNA about sexual harassment and social media.
December 19, 2011
Hours before attending a forum commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Labor Department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), Kathleen Martinez, assistant labor secretary, sat down with BNA to discuss ODEP’s influence on public policy aimed at increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
December 5, 2011
BNA recently reached out to two management-side attorneys to discuss some key moving elements in the longstanding requirement that federal contractors submit workforce data to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, as well as the implications of a recent court decision in a contractor's challenge to OFCCP's reporting requirements.
Labor Stats and Facts: Seven Surprising Facts About Health Care Bargaining
EEO Roundup: EEOC Nomination, House Testimony
Public Sector Roundup: OPM Issues `Phased Retirement' Proposal to Allow Part-Time Work for Future Federal Retirees
Public Sector Roundup: Legislation to Require OPM to Track Union 'Official Time' Approved by House Panel
Labor Stats and Facts: Union Workers' Benefits Don't Outpace Nonunion Benefits; They Lap Them