EEOC to Employers: Ignore Harassment Complaints Based on LGBTQ Status At Your Peril
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently entered into a consent decree with a Tex-Mex restaurant in Gainesville, Virginia (up to an hour from the DMV—without traffic) settling a lawsuit alleging that restaurant employees, including other servers and kitchen staff, subjected a gay male server to “unwelcome harassing and offensive behavior” that…
Read More When Equal Pay Audit Results Lead to Retaliation Claims
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By Amy Epstein Gluck Equal pay is getting a lot of press these days. Indeed, it seems to be a “Hot HR Topic.” (Yes, that IS a thing! OK, just for employment law nerds.) There’s a federal law requiring employers to provide equal pay for equal work, and, employers should know that most states have…
Read More Diversity & Inclusion: Making More Than Cosmetic Changes
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck One of my favorite cosmetics retailer closed all of its US-based stores today for diversity and inclusion training. The focus? What it means to be a diverse and inclusive workplace. In addition to the one-hour store closures today, the company said it would close its distribution centers and corporate headquarters for trainings…
Read More Offsite Is Not Off Limits: Case Study on the Consequences of Failing to Address Culture and Claims Of Harassment
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck Earlier, I came across this story (hello, insomnia) about one company (not our client!) who did not take the steps we have recommended in our blog to prevent harassment and retaliation, and is now being excoriated for it in the press. This Buzzfeed article on the problems one tech start-up presents a…
Read More New York City Employers: Sexual and Reproductive Decisions Are a New Class
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck New York City employers and employers who have employees working in New York City, add a new protective class to your employee handbooks! That’s right. On May 20, 2019, i.e., next week-ish, the New York City Commission on Human Rights will begin enforcing the city’s broad anti-discrimination, anti-harassment, and anti-retaliation law,…
Read More A Steak, Medium-Rare, With Sides of Sexual Harassment and Retaliation
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck I read yesterday that two current lawsuits claim that a celebrated steakhouse sustains a culture of sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. In one of the two cases, a female server alleged that a regular customer grabbed her from behind and “placed his hand beneath her crotch and in between her thighs”…
Read More What's All The Fuss? SCOTUS (Finally) Considers Whether Adverse Decisions Against LGBT Employees Constitute Sex Discrimination In Violation of Title VII
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck With this post, I join the multitude of bloggers writing about the historical announcement yesterday that the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will hear and decide a series of cases this fall to determine whether the federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “sex,” Title VII of the Civil…
Read More Hey 2019, How Is Corporate America Doing With LGBT Policies?
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation gives us some indicator to answer this question. Last week, the HRC released its 2019 Corporate Equality Index report— a national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality. Some results are as follows: 571 US companies and law…
Read More Up In The Air—To Address Sexual Harassment, Follow Your Procedures
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By: Amy Epstein Gluck So, I’m on a Southwest flight to New Orleans (woohoo!!) to hang out with my FisherBroyles partners for a few days. I am psyched! Being me, on the flight, I started chatting with the flight attendant about her job and ask her about her experiences with sexual harassment in her workplace, which,…
Read More The 4th Circuit Says: Rumor Has It
By Amy Epstein Gluck |
By Amy Epstein Gluck I am going to lay out the lede up front: last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a plaintiff’s hostile work environment claim based on sex-based rumors. It considered the claims to be rooted in unlawful sex stereotypes about women. What Was This…
Read More AMY EPSTEIN GLUCK
Amy Epstein Gluck has represented individuals and corporate clients in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and various federal district courts for more than twenty years. Ms. Epstein Gluck’s current practice areas include employment law—advising on and drafting employment agreements; handling employment negotiations, severance agreements, noncompete and nondisclosure agreements, “wrongful terminations” and other EEO matters; representation at the EEOC level; advising employers about discrimination laws and how to remain in compliance, and employment negotiations.
RICHARD COHEN
Richard Cohen has litigated and arbitrated complex corporate, commercial and employment disputes for more than 35 years, and is a trusted advisor to business owners and in-house counsel both in the United States and internationally. His clients have included Fortune 100 companies, domestic and foreign commercial and investment banks, Pacific-rim corporations and real estate development companies, as well as start-up businesses throughout the United States.
