Eleventh Circuit Rules Mandatory Meeting Prohibition of Florida's "Stop W.O.K.E. Act" Restricting Workplace Diversity Training is Unconstitutional

Earlier this month, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's preliminary order blocking enforcement of the Individual Freedom Act's provision banning mandatory workplace trainings endorsing certain viewpoints. More ›

Hinshaw's 12 Days of California Labor & Employment Series – Day 3: Racial and Ethnic Diversity at the Forefront for California-Based Publicly Held Corporations

In the spirit of the season—and keeping some semblance of normal—we are using our annual "12 days of the holidays" blog series to address new California laws and their impact on California employers. On this third day of the holidays, my labor and employment attorney gave to me: three French hens and AB 979.

This bill is reminiscent of one we kicked off our annual series with back in 2018, which came in the wake of the #MeToo movement. The bill, SB 826, required any publicly held corporation with its principal office located in California, to include at least one woman director on the corporation's Board of Directors by the end of 2019. It further provided that, by the end of 2021, corporations with five or more directors must include at least two female board members, and corporations with six or more directors must include at least three female board members. While SB 826 addressed gender equality, AB 979 focuses on racial and ethnic diversity. More ›

Strategies for Age Inclusion in Honor of the ADEA's 50th Birthday

In honor of the golden anniversary of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the EEOC issued a report entitled "The State of Age Discrimination & Older Workers in the U.S. 50 Years After the ADEA." At a time when sex and race issues are at the forefront of the news, the EEOC reminds us that older workers face struggles of their own obtaining and retaining employment. More ›

Lessons for Employers in the Case of a Former Google Software Engineer Fired for Violating Company Anti-Discrimination Policies

Earlier this week, an NLRB attorney issued an advice memo concluding that software giant Google did not violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"), when the company terminated software engineer James Damore, who penned a controversial memo criticizing Google’s diversity initiatives. The memo, and Google's swift reaction, were widely covered in the press and speculation followed questioning whether Google's response was appropriate or whether it would face a challenge.   More ›