INSIDE THE EEOC

In response to a lawsuit filed by 20 state attorneys general, US District Court Judge Charles Atchley Jr. in the Eastern District of Tennessee temporarily barred the Biden administration’s guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requiring schools and employers to provide transgender people with access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams, saying the administration’s guidance “directly interferes with and threatens Plaintiffs States’ ability to continue enforcing their state laws.”

Rejecting the Biden administration’s argument that the guidance was justified by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Judge Atchley, a Trump appointee, said the national injunction was warranted because of the “extraordinary circumstances” of the lawsuit and because the states are likely to prevail since the Biden administration guidance creates rights that “appear nowhere in Bostock.”

Protection from abortion-related discrimination under PDA

With the issuance of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reversing the constitutional right to an abortion, employers should be reminded that the EEOC takes the position that a woman’s right to have or not have an abortion is protected by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Therefore, employers can be held liable for treating employees who have or have not had an abortion differently unless they are a religious institution or organization.

EEOC settles GINA COVID test claim