The past few weeks brought mixed results for plaintiffs at the Supreme Court. Although the Court surprisingly extended Title VII’s protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation in Bostock v. Clayton County, the Court wrapped up its term by extending the so-called “ministerial exception”—which exempts certain employees of religious institutions from employment protections—to a […]

Evidence-gathering is one of the most critical parts of any employment discrimination lawsuit. In the normal course of litigation, wrongfully terminated employees may use discovery tools to obtain evidence to prove their case. However, sometimes—due to mistrust in an employer, lack of knowledge about the legal system, or uncertainty that they even want to file […]

Where in the world are working women equal to men? According to an international report released by the World Bank earlier this month, the nations that make this esteemed list are Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Canada. These nations had a perfect “100” score according to the World Bank’s Women, Business and […]

If you live in Kentucky and are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breastfeeding, you should be aware of new protections that may apply to you and your employer. Last month Kentucky passed the Pregnant Workers Act with bipartisan support, making it the 25th state to pass specific legislation to protect pregnant employees. Federal laws […]

The longest federal shutdown in U.S. history is having devastating effects, placing hundreds of thousands of federal workers in economic peril and potentially crippling the delivery of basic services for Native American tribes. It has also shut down the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), delaying Americans from receiving justice where their employers have illegally […]

How did you find your current job?  Was it through an advertisement in the newspaper or another print periodical? And how about if you’re an employer looking to recruit and hire new employees?  Chances are, the answer to all of the above is: the internet.  So, if the employment advertisements that employers/employees use and view […]

Universities and employers have a duty to respond to allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination. Many organizations conduct investigations before responding, and plaintiffs have filed gender discrimination lawsuits based on the investigations themselves. For one example, read coverage of Sanford Heisler Sharp’s trial about a Columbia University investigation here. Whether an investigation is so […]

New Census Bureau research, comparing the amount of money couples report to the Census with “true” earnings from IRS tax records, shows a surprising result: when women in different-sex couples earn more than their male spouses, “[h]usbands say they earn more than they are and wives underreport their income.” Both spouses exaggerate the man’s earnings […]

The #MeToo movement has shined an unflattering light on employer-mandated arbitration agreements, which commonly prevent victims of sexual harassment from speaking publicly about their experiences. Mandatory and confidential arbitration has the effect of forcing women into silence, while allowing perpetrators to continue to harass and assault other employees.  With the rise of the #MeToo movement, […]

In the landmark civil rights decision Brown v. Board of Education, the court ruled that racial segregation in the public schools was unconstitutional. But if the Plaintiffs in Brown had been subject to an arbitration agreement with their schools, public schools might still be segregated today. Today women do not have to tolerate hostile conduct […]

Hourly workers’ paychecks can be unpredictable, varying drastically depending on their hours. Unscrupulous employers exploit this variance to short hourly employees of their full wages for their labor, often undetected. Tipped workers in most states are uniquely vulnerable to wage theft.  Most tipped workers earn a reduced hourly rate – in Washington, D.C., the tipped […]

Medical devices are a crucial component to health care treatment and advancements. With an increasingly competitive market, medical device manufacturers and sales personnel are under pressure to maximize their sales and outpace competitors. To accomplish these objectives, device manufacturers may engage in sales practices that violate the False Claims Act (FCA)—a federal statute that allows […]

It’s been a big month for reducing the stigma of pregnant women at work: First, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, 37, became the first world leader in three decades to give birth while in office (and only the second world leader overall ever!). Second, in a move aptly billed as “an ace […]

The Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) administers customs laws and collects antidumping duties to prevent foreign companies from saturating U.S. markets with below-cost products. These laws require importers to carefully classify and disclose the goods imported to the United States. Because most disclosures are only subject to the “honor-system” importers may mislabel or misrepresent the […]

It’s no secret that Medicare fraud wastes tons of taxpayer money and inflates everyone’s healthcare bills. However, many may not realize that providers may comply with the expected medical standard of care yet still commit Medicare fraud by overbilling for those services. One of a myriad of examples where providers overbill Medicare for services—even those […]