Tag: Caregiver discrimination

Caring for Caregivers: Understanding Caregiver Discrimination Under Federal Laws

As we enter the third year of a pandemic, the ongoing disruption caused by COVID-19 and its variants often leaves employers juggling legal and business considerations regarding their workforce. Specifically, many employees are also caregivers, whether they are caring for children, a spouse, an individual with a disability, or older relatives. Practically, issues arise when […]

EEOC Warns of Higher Risk of Caregiver Discrimination in Changing World, Workplace

The COVID-19 pandemic placed a spotlight on the challenge of juggling work and personal obligations, including coordinating the demands of virtual learning, school closures, and other scheduling issues. Even as the pandemic evolves to become endemic, it may still have a lingering effect on the lives of workers who need to juggle hybrid school schedules […]

Caregiver responsibility discrimination: an emerging issue

by Joseph U. Leonoro For years, federal, state, and local employment laws have prohibited discrimination based on various protected characteristics, such as gender, race, disability, and age. In recent years, a new theory of discrimination, frequently referred to as “caregiver responsibility discrimination,” has emerged. There’s no federal  law that explicitly prohibits discrimination based on caregiving […]

Help or hindrance: Do workplace flexibility policies really work?

Progressive HR departments have been on the workplace flexibility bandwagon for years now as employers try to recruit and retain top talent. The best and brightest will be productive, loyal and creative contributors if they have time to tend to what’s important in their lives outside of the workplace, the thinking goes. Recently, though, headlines […]

Family Responsibility Discrimination

Consider the following two scenarios: A male employee requests extended leave to provide at-home care to a sick child. Instead of evaluating the request based on his eligibility for leave, the employer questions why the child’s mother can’t care for her. A qualified female employee with two preschool children is considered a “poor fit” for […]