On March 12, Utah Governor Herbert signed into law S.B. 296, which amends the Utah Antidiscrimination Act to prohibit discrimination in employment by Utah employers on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Notably, and perhaps not surprisingly given that 60% of Utah residents identify as Mormons, although the law had the support of … Continue Reading
On February 3, 2015, the EEOC’s Director of the Office of Field Programs issued a memorandum to the agency’s district directors regarding the handling of LGBT-related discrimination claims. Although Title VII does not explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of an employee’s identification as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, the memorandum states that the EEOC … Continue Reading
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released its annual statistical report detailing charge filing activity in 2014. The EEOC, the federal administrative agency which investigates and prosecutes claims of employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under a number of employment and civil rights statutes, reported 88,778 charges filed in 2014, down from 93,727 charges filed … Continue Reading
In November in Poland the story of a dismissed Religious Studies teacher hit the news. What made this story of interest? The Polish State requires schools to run Religious Studies (RS) classes. The teaching syllabus and text books are decided by the Church authorities and RS teachers must be issued a license (missio canonica) by … Continue Reading
Thinking before you speak is generally accepted as best practice, particularly if you are speaking in front of a room full of members of the world’s media. Unfortunately Microsoft boss Satya Nadella recently failed to adopt this approach when addressing the question of what advice he would offer women who are not comfortable asking for … Continue Reading
Gender is a hot topic in the business world at the moment – and nowhere more so than in Japan. Back in January, Prime Minister Abe gave a special address at Davos in which he announced his intention to make Japan “a place where women shine.” This week, he announced his Growth Strategy setting out … Continue Reading
Back in January 2013, my colleague David Whincup published a blog about an Iowa dentist who dismissed his assistant because of the threat which his wife considered her to pose to their marriage. For those happy few who have spent the last 17 months wondering what would happen in similar circumstances in the UK, wonder … Continue Reading
So here is Friday’s teaser – let us suppose that an Employment Tribunal has just decided that you have been sexually harassed by your former boss, that he was fixated by your breasts, habitually stared at them and frequently addressed them while in conversation with you. He has also touched you, uninvited and unreciprocated, on … Continue Reading
The recent revelations as to the content of some of Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore’s emails have generated a feeding frenzy for the English media. He has admitted and sort of apologised for engaging in email correspondence with a lawyer who advises the Premier League which, at best, was inappropriate and leadenly sexist in its … Continue Reading
Every so often a UK Employment Tribunal case is so newsworthy that it is reported beyond legal/HR circles and makes the national press. The case of two firearms officers with hands too small for their guns was a case that even The Telegraph could not resist reporting. Ms Wheatley and Ms Giles were (and possibly … Continue Reading
