Posts tagged Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
EEOC Chair Signals Scrutiny of Labor Unions Over Discrimination
October 20, 2026 // The EEOC has pursued high-profile investigations involving companies such as Nike and Northwestern Mutual and filed a discrimination lawsuit against The New York Times over allegations that its hiring and promotion practices disadvantaged a white male employee.
Senate confirms Keith Sonderling, a business ally, as labor secretary
October 1, 2026 // As Sonderling officially takes over at the agency, labor and business groups expect its focus on Trump’s priorities to continue, including deregulation, expanding apprenticeships, reshoring manufacturing jobs and readying the workforce for the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. Sonderling, who is popular in Republican policy circles in Washington, previously served as a top Labor official during Trump’s first term before an appointment to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Railroad, airline labor mediator fired by Trump drops legal fight
July 20, 2026 // The Supreme Court’s blockbuster decision expanding President Trump’s firing power has reached another agency: one that works out labor disputes in the airline and railroad industries. Deirdre Hamilton, a Democratic appointee to the National Mediation Board who had been contesting her firing, has now dismissed her legal challenge. A judge on Thursday ordered the case be closed.
BREAKING: California Faculty Association and CSU settle private information lawsuit
January 22, 2026 // Cal State LA continues to be the only campus that was the subject of a direct EEOC subpoena, however there are other active antisemitism complaints across the other 21 CSU schools. The status of that systemwide complaint by the EEOC is unknown. The settlement was reached based on the 1977 California Information Practices Act, which defines personal information as “that identifies or describes an individual.” This information includes “their name, social security number, physical description, home address, home telephone numbers, education, financial matters, medical or employment history, and statements attributed to the individual.”
Cal State University unions seek notice of federal subpoenas in antisemitism investigation
December 10, 2025 // The conflict between Cal State and the employee unions comes amid a sweeping campaign by the White House to crack down on colleges and universities that it accuses of fostering political views with which it disagrees, including protesting Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and supporting the rights of transgender students. The University of California system and the University of Pennsylvania are among the colleges facing EEOC investigations alleging a hostile work environment for Jewish employees. Cal State says it has not received a subpoena related to the systemwide EEOC investigation and that there have not been any findings, settlement discussions or other federal actions in regard to it. The EEOC did not respond to a request seeking comment.
New Jersey attorney general sues Iron Workers’ chapter for discrimination
July 8, 2024 // The complaint, filed jointly with the state’s Division of Civil Rights, also alleges that the union maintained a hostile work environment where “male, non-Black co-workers” called a Black woman worker a racial slur, locked her in a bathroom for hours and smacked her buttocks. The suit provides graphic details around claims that another worker found homophobic, pornographic materials taped to his work computer and that a supervisor used a derogatory term to refer to women.
WIOA Reauthorization Draft Includes “Blacklisting” Provision, Violating Employers’ Due Process Rights
July 3, 2024 // The blacklisting provision, if implemented, would bar employers from WIOA funding based on findings that are still subject to appeal. As a result, an employer may be denied funding even though a court may rule on appeal that the employer did not violate the law. Efforts to blacklist employers from federal initiatives and funding began under the Obama administration when it issued Executive Order 13673, “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces,” in July 2014. The Executive Order called for the debarment or suspension of federal contractors from the federal procurement process for allegations of labor and employment law violations. A final rule and guidance implementing the Executive Order were issued in August 2016, but both were blocked from taking effect by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and by Congress via a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution.
Op-ed: Diversity, equity, and exclusion: How the NLRB’s double standard on job-related speech hurts workers
March 22, 2024 // The NLRB in 2020 required Amazon to reinstate a male worker who had used a bullhorn to call a female colleague a “gutter bitch” and “crack ho,” among other misogynistic insults. The bullhorn-wielding worker had been engaged in a one-man union protest when the female co-worker told him to quiet down. The union activist replied with a string of insults that would be clear proof of a hostile workplace under any other circumstances. The NLRB nevertheless sided with the union activist, as it usually has in such situations. The board has long believed that allowances must be made for heated rhetoric when workers are engaged union-related activities. So, you cannot question a workplace diversity policy publicly at work and you cannot criticize the policy outside of work in the private-yet-public world of social media. Either one can get you fired for creating a hostile work environment. But a male worker can be openly hostile and insulting to female co-workers if the man is affiliated with a union.
2024 strikes predicted to be less disruptive; but layoffs and unionization continue
January 5, 2024 // US workers will not be exerting the same sort of pay pressures on employers as they did in 2023, with opportunities to strike being much reduced. After a bumper 2023 of strike activity, it claims the bargaining schedule for 2024 does not appear to be facing as many battles ahead.
‘Battle royale’: Tesla and anti-union Musk make enticing targets for UAW’s next push
November 5, 2023 // Some current UAW members are already fired up to take on Tesla. “Go out west to California? Absolutely, I would go,” said John Jake Kincaid, a Stellantis employee in Michigan. “Show them our strength.” Still, fighting for a contract at companies with established relationships with union workers is a far different effort than starting from scratch. Several workers who were key to Tesla’s earlier union effort are no longer at the company. The Fremont plant’s history with the UAW predates the electric vehicle maker. For about 25 years, Toyota and GM operated the facility together in an unusual joint venture. It was a union shop. In 2009, GM pulled out of the partnership as part of its bankruptcy proceedings and in 2010 Toyota shut the operation down, throwing 4,700 people out of work. A month later, Tesla bought the sprawling 5.3 million square foot factory; the union didn’t come with the purchase.