Tag: FRD

“Family Responsibility Discrimination”–A New Frontier?

If you’re not yet familiar with the term “family responsibility discrimination” (FRD), get ready—chances are, you’ll be hearing it a lot in the future. Although related to both sex and pregnancy discrimination, the term encompasses the broader idea that employers are biased against new parents/primary family care providers.

Honor your mothers and fathers: Avoid family responsibility discrimination

Mother’s Day has just passed, and Father’s Day is coming up, so what better time to talk about family responsibility discrimination (FRD)? According to a University of California Hastings College of the Law study, the number of FRD cases being filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) jumped almost 500 percent between 1971 and […]

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 […]