Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

March 24, 2011

38 view(s)

EEOC to Publish Final Rule on ADAAA on March 25

ADAAA EEOC

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced that it will publish its Final Rule implementing the ADA Amendments Act in the Federal Register tomorrow (March 25, 2011). The regulations recently cleared review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and have been praised by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as reflecting "a carefully crafted compromise between the bu...

March 22, 2011

50 view(s)

SCOTUS Rules Oral Complaints as Valid as Written Ones

anti-retaliation FLSA

The U.S. Supreme Court today (March 22, 2011) overturned the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling that, to be valid, complaints under the anti-retaliation provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must be in writing. In Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, the justices rejected what they termed a "narrow interpretation" of language in the FLSA and threw open the sta...

March 18, 2011

42 view(s)

DOL Opens Web Portal for Regulation Feedback

DOL regulations regulatory review

The Department of Labor (DOL) has created a Web tool to solicit public commentary on "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review," the Obama initiative issued on Jan. 18, 2011. The new portal is for comments on existing DOL regulations and reporting requirements, with the goal of streamlining and simplifying. The DOL announcement gives these guidelines: In addressing these questions...

March 17, 2011

55 view(s)

OMB Approves ADAAA Final Regulations, Publication Next

ADA ADAAA EEOC OMB

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reportedly has approved the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) proposed final regulations for the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA). The EEOC, if this is the case, is free to publish the final regulations in the Federal Register and begin enforcing their provisions after a stated period of time. The ADAAA was written, passed and signed into law to ...

March 16, 2011

49 view(s)

EEOC Recovers Record Claims from Employers

EEOC

In addition to reporting a record number of discrimination charges during the last fiscal year (nearly 100,000), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) secured more than $400 million in monetary benefits from employers–the highest level of monetary relief ever obtained by the EEOC through its combined enforcement, mediation and litigation programs. In order t...

March 14, 2011

38 view(s)

EBSA Hearings on ACA Auto-Enrollment Mandate

ACA DOL EBSA PPACA

The Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) will hold public hearings on April 6 to discuss the automatic enrollment provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). PPACA inserts a provision in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requiring businesses with 200 or more employees to automatically enroll all employees into a health plan, but new FLSA section 18A will no...

March 14, 2011

53 view(s)

ADA Design Standards to Change on March 15

ADA ADAAA Department of Justice Final Rule

The U.S. Department of Justice's amended Final Rule concerning the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) takes effect tomorrow, March 15, 2011, replacing the 1991 act's Standards for Accessible Design with a more vigorous 2010 set of standards. The 2010 Standards for Accessible Design provide new specifications for a wide range of architectural access features, including public stairwel...

March 11, 2011

66 view(s)

OSHA Clarifies Who Must Pay for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

OSHA PPE

Following a series of court and review commission decisions regarding personal protective equipment (PPE), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued guidance on who must pay for each type of PPE. The relevant document, Guidance for Personal Equipment in General Industry, took effect on Feb. 15, 2011, clarifying final regulations issued in 2007 and 2009. The prior guidance req...

March 9, 2011

42 view(s)

EEO Seeks Public Comment on Regulations

EEOC

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is requesting public commentary for a review it is launching into all its regulations to determine which "should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed, to make the EEOC's regulatory program more effective and/or less burdensome." The review follows an executive order issued by President Obama for all government agencies ...

March 8, 2011

35 view(s)

HHS Imposes First-Ever Fine for HIPAA Violations

When the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), charged with enforcing the privacy and security rules of HIPAA, recently levied a $4.3-million fine on Cignet Health of Maryland, it marked the first time a HIPAA fine had been issued. This was swiftly followed by a $1-million settlement with Massachusetts General Hospital for an employee's negligenc...

292 of 329

Options

Recent Articles

Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

EEOC Rescinds Permissible Affirmative Action Guidance

On June 30, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) officially rescinded two longstanding documents relating to permissible affirmative action. The documents were part of the EEOC's guidance on affirmative action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

DOJ Challenges EEOC's Stance on Disparate Impact Claims

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued a legal opinion that may signal major changes ahead in federal workplace discrimination enforcement. In a June 9, 2026 memorandum, the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) expressed the opinion that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's...

Department of Labor Issues 2026 Civil Penalty Update: No Adjustments This Year

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently published its annual update announcement regarding federal civil monetary penalties under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. In a notice published in the Federal Register on May 27th, 2026, the DOL announced that no penalty increases...

U.S. Department of Labor Issues New Opinion Letters on Overtime Exemptions, Bonuses, and Compensable Time

On May 29th, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released several new opinion letters addressing key wage & hour issues. Specifically, one of the four documents informed readers whether an exempt employee could perform additional work in a secondary role at an hourly rate and still be eligible...

EEOC Issues New National Enforcement Plan Through 2029

On June 4th, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a new 2025-2029 National Enforcement Plan (NEP). The NEP sets the EEOC’s specific subject-matter priorities from June through fiscal year 2029.

View All Articles