Click here to view entire E-Update as a PDF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Gender Dysphoria Constitutes a Disability Under the ADA, According to the Fourth Circuit The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that gender dysphoria, a medical condition defined in the DSM-5 as “clinically significant distress or […]

Many employers would like to have a policy that provides light duty only to those workers who suffer on-the-job injuries, but not others, like pregnant employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, however, took the position that the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Young v. UPS necessarily required employers with occupational […]

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer is obliged to provide only those reasonable accommodations that are necessary to enable an employee to perform their essential job functions (or enjoy the privileges and benefits of employment), and not those that would arguably maximize an employee’s productivity. In Edwards v. […]

Click here to view entire E-Update as a PDF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS The Novavax Vaccine May Mean Fewer Religious and Medical COVID Vaccine Exemptions The FDA’s approval of the Novavax vaccine may be a game changer in the tumultuous COVID vaccine mandate situation. Unless limited by state law, employers may require […]

The Mayor of the District of Columbia has signed a bill that protects marijuana/cannabis users from adverse employment actions for off-duty use, with certain exceptions. Following a typical period of Congressional review, the law will take effect upon the date of inclusion of its fiscal effect in an approved budget […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected an employer’s request to find that a permanent, full-time job coach is never a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities to enable them to perform their […]

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has engaged in a rather troubling expansion of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, as reflected in its July 6, 2022 announcement of agreement to resolve certain GINA claims against a private employer. According to the EEOC, the employer had been collecting the COVID-19 test results […]

This month, the D.C. Council passed the Non-Compete Conflict of Interest Clarification Amendment Act of 2021, which narrowed the scope of the very broad ban on non-competition agreements pursuant to the Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (which we previously discussed here and here).  In an apparent recognition […]

A recent case highlights the fact that an employer may be found liable for retaliation under federal anti-discrimination laws even when the employee’s protected activity is against another employer. In Patterson v. Georgia Pacific, LLC, an HR manager testified in a pregnancy discrimination case against her former employer. Her current […]

In furtherance of the strong pro-worker stance of the Biden administration, various federal agencies have entered into agreements that allow them to share information and partner on initiatives that promote workers’ rights. We had previously written about the commitment of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board to […]