New Rules Coming on Housing Discrimination - Disparate Impact Discrimination is Changing Again

In housing discrimination, you can't treat people differently in the terms, conditions, privileges, and/or availability of housing. 

Yet, you aren't just responsible for your intended acts of discrimination, known as disparate treatment discrimination. Instead, you are also responsible for your unintended acts that impact groups of people as a secondary effect, which is known as disparate impact discrimination.

Think about it this way, if you don't rent to women, as a policy, that is clearly an act of disparate treatment sex discrimination. However, if you don't rent to long-haired people, aren't you still impacting women in sex discrimination under a different name? That is called disparate impact discrimination.

As to disparate impact discrimination, President Biden just ordered HUD to make sure that the regulations on disparate impact discrimination is preventing practices with an unjustified discriminatory effect. 

Do you think that there should be disparate impact discrimination laws? If so, what do you think they should be? 

Fair Housing Act Prohibits Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation per President Biden

On Day 1 of President Biden's Term, he expanded our understanding of the Fair Housing Act by making clear that it includes protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity & sexual orientation. 

See his Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation for your full understanding.

As explained by the President, the US Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that employment discrimination laws, which expressly prohibit sex discrimination, also prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation; and that the same reasoning behind the Supreme Court's ruling will now be applied to the Fair Housing Act's prohibition of discrimination in the sale and rental of housing across our nation. 

In fact, the Executive Order put all perpetrators on notice by stating that the government will issue plans, within 100 days, to effectuate its policy of enforcing these prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

While many states, such as NY, and other locales, already prohibit gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination in housing, the Federal Government stepping in to enforce violations can change the game.

How will you change your business because of this Order?  

Employment Sexual Harassment - Case of Interest at the NYPD

A homosexual detective was just given his chance to prove that he experienced workplace discrimination at a trial and recoup damages.

Here are his facts:

• His homophobic colleagues vindictively called other officers wherever he was stationed & told them to harass plaintiff because he was gay;
• 2 Sergeants constantly made homophobic slurs at civilians & gay officers in his presence; 
• He endured over a year of homophobic derision, harassment, and verbal abuse;
• He was singled out to do tasks, which his peers were not required to do, such as:
• He was repeatedly required to enter a holding cell, by himself, with prisoners still inside, while plaintiff carried metal and wooden cleaning implements. This was potentially dangerous, as plaintiff could have been overwhelmed & attacked by the prisoners. Other officers were not required to do it, as it was usually a task for the maintenance crew; 
• He was required to go on foot patrol alone during the midnight shift in dangerous areas at the 77th Precinct while other officers patrolled with partners;
• He was given extra work when he arrived on the job; and
• He experienced some new or escalated conduct after he started to fight the discrimination, which could be deemed retaliatory.

Do you think he should win?

How much would this be worth to you in damages if it were you who experienced these actions?

Remember, he can sue for emotional distress damages, back pay, forward pay, punitive damages, and attorneys' fees.

This case was just decided by the Appellate Courts in Doe v New York City Police Dept.

Dollar General to Pay Workers to Get COVID Vaccine, But Can They Without Getting Sued for Discrimination?

According to Business Insider, Dollar General is paying their employees to get the COVID vaccine, but is that legal? 

Back in 2017, the federal courts, in AARP v. EEOC, addressed the issue of paying employees for participation in wellness programs and found that both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act were violated because the incentives permitted rendered the programs not voluntary, as required by law. The incentive, at issue in the case, was "up to 30% of the cost of self-only coverage." 

How does that comport with what Dollar General is now doing? 

They are offering four hours of pay to their employees. 

Is that too much to make participation voluntary? 

Ironically, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is proposing a new regulation about this voluntary standard in the Federal Register for public comment. This new regulation proposes to change the 30% incentive limit (as addressed in the federal case above) to a de minimis incentive limit. In fact, the regulation gives examples of a permitted de minimis incentive, like a water bottle or modest gift card.

Isn't four hours of pay worth a lot more than a water bottle? Is Dollar General going to get sued for this program. What do you think? 

Systemic Employment Discrimination Enforcement Brought to you by the EEOC - Be Warned

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) just launched a new website detailing how it pursues systemic discrimination cases against businesses throughout the US.

It's like a shot across the bow of your boat if you own or manage a business - they are coming for you if you don't start implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives now. 

When implementing your DEI initiatives focus on these 4 main categories, which EEOC targets for systemic employment discrimination enforcement:

1. Hiring / Promotion / Assignment / Referral
2. Policies / Practices
3. Lay-off / Reduction in Force / Discharge Policies 
4. ADA (disability) / GINA (genetic info) 

The EEOC defines systemic as "pattern or practice, policy and/or class cases where the discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, profession, company or geographic location.” 

Basically, it means that they are looking for more than just one plaintiff (think, class action, just a little different). 

The new EEOC website lists the top 10 systemic enforcements topics, which you should review immediately to avoid a charge from the EEOC:

1. Use of background checks
2. Denying women jobs in fields such as truck drivers, dockworkers, laborers
3. Refusal to hire African American, Hispanics and older workers for front of the house positions
4. Ending staffing agency use of referring applicants based on customer preferences
5. Widespread sexual harassment of teenagers in fast food chains
6. Racially hostile displays such as nooses and racist graffiti
7. Eliminating tap on the shoulder recruiting in favor of job posting
8. Challenging policies of issuing attendance points for medical related absences, without accounting for disabilities
9. Challenges of deportation made against employees complaining of discrimination
10. Challenges to abuse of vulnerable workers who were subject to years of confinement, abuse, deplorable conditions, and reduced pay following charges of discrimination

If you aren't concerned yet, be warned that in "2020, OGC resolved 33 systemic cases, recovering $69.9 million for approximately 25,000 individuals."

Do you have your policies, practices, and procedures in place to prevent EEOC from charging your company? 

Second PPP $ - The Rules are out NOW

How do you get your Paycheck Protection Program Second Draw Loan? 

The rules are out now and here are the top 10 rules that you should know:

1. Last day to apply & receive a new PPP is March 31, 2021;
2. To qualify, you must use or will use full amount of your First Draw PPP loan on or before disbursement of second loan; 
3. SBA may forgive up to the full principal loan amount; 
4. Interest rate is 1%; 
5. Maturity is 5 years; 
6. Borrower must have 300 or fewer employees;
7. Borrower must have experienced a revenue reduction of 25% or greater in 2020 relative to 2019 (quarterly comparison); 
8. When comparing 2020 relative to 2019, any forgiveness amount of a First Draw PPP Loan that a borrower received in calendar year 2020 is excluded from a borrower's gross receipts (not disqualified from the second loan because of the first one);
9. Each hotel, restaurant, or news organization with a location owned by a parent business in a separate legal business entity and employing not more than 300 employees is permitted to apply for a separate PPP loan; and
10. Maximum loan amount = 2.5 months of the borrower's average monthly payroll costs.

When are you submitting your application?