Compliance Stuff

On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) titled  Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy , which follows a string of prior EOs aimed at removing DEI programs, which we covered  here  and  here . This most recent EO seeks to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability across federal agencies, marking a significant shift in how civil rights statutes, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, could be enforced. “Disparate-impact” is a foundational legal concept under both Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The former prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in federally funded programs, while the latter prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment . Disparate-impact liability has long been used by federal agencies, like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and courts to identify policies that, while neutral on thei...

On January 20, 2025, President Trump enacted Executive Order (EO) 14168, which is titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” This EO mandates that various agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), revoke “all guidance documents . . . or such parts of such documents that are inconsistent” with the stipulations of EO 14168. The EO identifies the EEOC’s “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace,” dated April 29, 2024, as a document that the administration anticipates will be fully or partially rescinded.  Read more below: The_Presidents_New_Directive_on_Gender_Identity_ACC_Tampa_Bay_Scott.pdf   Source(s): The New Presidential Directive on Gender Identity: The Next Steps for Florida Employers . (2025). Fordharrison.com. https://www.fordharrison.com/the-new-presidential-directive-on-gender-identity-the-next-steps-for-florida-employers?utm_source=elinfonet ‌

The 2025 H-1B visa lottery registration period starts today, March 7, 2025, at 12pm EST and runs until 12pm EST on March 24. The government issues 85,000 H-1B visa numbers each year, 20,000 of which are set aside specifically for US masters degree holders. This is the one and only opportunity each year for employers to secure a chance to sponsor their talented foreign professionals for a longer term work visa. Interested employers can register any number of foreign professionals over the next two weeks, and USCIS will notify employers about any selected registrants by the end of March. These employers will then have 90 days, from April 1, 2025 until June 30, 2025, to file an H-1B visa petition with USCIS. Upon approval of the H-1B petition, the worker can start H-1B employment from October 1, 2025. To qualify for an H-1B visa, the foreign professional must (1) undertake a “specialty occupation” designated as a professional level job requiring a minimum of a bachelor degree in a specifi...

On February 21, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland issued a nationwide preliminary injunction halting the enforcement of three key provisions of President Trump’s Executive Orders intended to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), in the federal government and beyond.   See National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education et al. v. Trump et al. , No. 1:25-cv-00333 (D. Md. Feb. 21, 2025).   These Executive Orders, titled, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” and “Ending Radical Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” which target federal programs tied to DEI and seek to influence private sector programs, have sparked legal challenges from national organizations who argue that the orders are unconstitutional. The three key provisions of the Executive Orders addressed in the court’s ruling are as follows: The “Termination Provision,” which directed all executive agencies to “ terminate…...

  Real World Impact:  This Alert provides guidance to help employers effectively respond to a workplace raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities.    Immigration enforcement and mass deportations are key priorities for the Trump Administration. Less than two weeks into the new administration, ICE – the subagency of the Department of Homeland Security tasked with enforcing US immigration laws – has exponentially ramped up worksite raids, arresting over 5,500 people in the first seven days of the Trump administration. An ICE raid can be a highly stressful, intimidating, and disorienting experience, so employers should have a clear crisis management plan in place to protect their rights and their employees while remaining compliant with immigration laws. This alert provides a step-by-step guide for employer to effectively respond to an ICE raid. ICE RAID RESPONSE PLAN FOR EMPLOYERS 1.  Assemble an ICE Response Team. An employer should designate...

  The Virginia Employment Commission has stated that the tax rate on unemployment claims will be rising for 2025 (rates have apparently been frozen since COVID), and notices will be coming out in mid-December. This means you will want to be sure to contest cases that are due to misconduct because awards of benefits will have increased financial consequences. In order to contest those cases, y ou need to make sure you are getting notice of the employee’s filing.  Anecdotally, we have determined that many clients have not been receiving the VEC’s notice of request for information from the employer. The VEC states that it is currently mailing and emailing the notices for the past several months. However, the VEC is recommending that all employers move to SIDES (referenced below). Because regular mail is so slow, the request for information may be received untimely, and if the person receiving the email is no longer there, the request will be missed. This is e...

  Real World Impact :   A recent New Jersey Superior Court decision interpreting the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFAA) may require New Jersey employers to defend an employee’s employment-related claims before both a judge and arbitrator. Background New Jersey Bergen County Superior Court Judge John O’Dwyer recently ruled in  Paton v. Davis Saperstein  that some employee claims against an employer must be arbitrated, but other claims relating to sexual harassment had to be litigated. As explained below, the court’s decision on how to apply the federal EFAA is contrary to court decisions in other states. In 2022, in response to the #MeToo movement, President Biden signed the EFAA, which amends the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) to prohibit mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment and assault claims. Specifically, the law renders a pre-dispute arbitration agreement or joint action waiver unenforceable in a case that ...

 Real World Impact: Based on a recent amendment to the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act (the Act) sent to Governor JB Pritzker for signature on June 20, 2024, it would appear that the answer to this question might be yes! Thus, employers in Illinois who voluntarily use the federal E-Verify system should be aware of pending legislation that could be interpreted to bar such use. If this legislation is enacted, employers will need to evaluate their work authorization practices to ensure they comply with Illinois state law.  Employers in the United States are required by federal law to verify the identity and work authorization for each person they hire by completing and retaining a Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification for each employee. Most employers fulfill this task through manual review of documents. The standard imposed on these employers is that the document must reasonably appear genuine on its face and relate to the person presenting it. Therefore,...