News

Three Whole Foods employees claim the company’s benefits plan violates ERISA because plan administrators aren’t acting in the smoking employees’ best interests when they refuse to refund surcharges after employees quit using tobacco products.

To avoid litigation, many employers conduct internal audits to ensure pay equity when employees perform substantially identical work. If you decide to run a pay-equity audit, be prepared to show exactly how you conducted it.

The EEOC has asked federal courts to drop lawsuits it previously filed alleging that employees experienced workplace discrimination and harassment because they are transgender. It’s a significant reversal for the EEOC in the early days of the Trump administration.

In a statement, acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said the EEOC “is returning to its mission of protecting women from sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination in the workplace by rolling back the Biden administration’s gender identity agenda.” But issuing a press release does not change official policy.

The state of Missouri is suing Starbucks, alleging that the coffee chain’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs are a “mere pretext for its actual commitment to unlawful discrimination.”

If it appears you’re pushing an employee out the door based on his age—or if you suddenly eliminate his position after discussing retirement—you’ll set yourself up for an age-discrimination lawsuit. Apply these tips to ensure well-intentioned conversations don’t trigger legal trouble.

A “microaggression” is a subtle, often unintentional comment or action that conveys bias or discrimination against a marginalized group. In the right circumstances, however, microaggressions can also amount to an adverse action that supports a workplace retaliation claim.

The EEOC is pursuing lawsuits over sex discrimination, age discrimination and failure to accommodate disabilities.

Courts recognize that employers must be free to manage their workforces as they see fit—with some limitations. But that live-and-let-live ethos changed when the Supreme Court issued its Muldrow v. St. Louis decision in April 2024.

If you use wearables to collect information about employees’ physical or mental conditions or for diagnostic testing, you may be conducting medical exams under the ADA.