Compliance Stuff

On April 15, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota issued its decision granting partial summary judgment to the Catholic Benefits Association, on behalf of its members and the Bismarck Diocese (collectively the CBA).   The court found that the portions of the  PWFA Final Regulations  that require employers to reasonably accommodate limitations arising out of infertility, abortions, and in vitro fertilization violate the  CBA’s rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).  The court also found that the EEOC’s Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace violates the CBA’s rights under the RFRA to the extent the EEOC Guidance forces the CBA to “speak or communicate in favor of abortion, fertility treatments, or gender transition when such is contrary to the Catholic faith; refrain from speaking or communicating against the same when such is contrary to the Catholic faith, use pronouns inconsistent with a person’s biologi...

Although the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has called reassignment an accommodation of last resort under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), transfer shouldn’t be overlooked by employers as a possibility before termination. Sometimes, an employee with a disability might even prefer it. Calling reassignment an accommodation of last resort “depends on the context,” said Peter Petesch, an attorney with Littler in Washington, D.C. “If the employee brings it up as an option, it is no longer a last resort.” Reassignment should always be on the “options board—something that should neither be jumped to at the outset nor forgotten as the accommodation process unfolds,” he explained. “It needs to be part of the calculus.” Employers typically try to reasonably accommodate an employee within their current position first, said Myra Creighton, an attorney with Fisher Phillips in Atlanta. Resorting to transfer only as a last-chance accommodation usually makes sense after ...