Model Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy Updates
New York law requires employers to maintain written sexual harassment policies and the New York State Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided employers with model policies to use as guidance. On January 12, 2023, the New York DOL released its updated Sexual Harassment Prevention Model Policy, which makes the following changes:
On August 12, 2022, the Seventh Circuit held Wal-Mart Stores East LP did not discriminate against pregnant employees by failing to offer them light duty under its Temporary Alternate Duty policy (“TAD Policy”).
On July 12, 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its COVID-19 guidance for the workplace, most notably, its guidance regarding COVID-19 testing of employees. Prior to last week, the EEOC took the position that mandatory COVID-19 testing would always be “job related and consistent with business necessity” – a requirement for permissible medical examinations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Given the evolving nature of the pandemic, the EEOC has changed course and has determined that employers now must make an individualized assessment as to whether current pandemic and workplace circumstances justify mandatory testing of employees to prevent workplace transmission of COVID-19. In other words, employers can no longer simply assume that mandatory COVID-19 viral testing of employees is lawful under the ADA.
Continue Reading The EEOC Issues Updated Guidance on COVID-19 Testing