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Government Enjoined from Implementing Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces

Client Alert | 1 min read | 10.25.16

On October 24, a U.S. district court issued a preliminary injunction enjoining implementation of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces final rule, which had been scheduled to take effect today, October 25 (discussed here and here). The court held that the executive order, implementing regulations, and DOL guidance violated the First Amendment, contractors’ due process rights, and the Federal Arbitration Act and enjoined the government from (a) implementing any portion of the FAR rule or the DOL Guidance relating to the new reporting and disclosure requirements and (b) enforcing the new restriction on arbitration agreements, while permitting “paycheck transparency” requirements to proceed.

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.12.26

DOJ Guidance Backs Away From Disparate Impact Liability

On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a formal opinion concluding that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) existing interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) disparate-impact liability, including the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), are unconstitutional. According to the opinion, EEOC’s prior interpretations contemplate liability based on disproportionately adverse effects alone, without regard to an employer’s likely intent, rather than treating disparate impact as an evidentiary mechanism to “smoke out” intentional discrimination. DOJ found that this approach functions as a “qualified racial-proportionality mandate” that places “a racial thumb on the scales, often requiring employers to evaluate the racial outcomes of their policies, and to make decisions based on (because of) those racial outcomes.” The opinion fulfills one mandate of Executive Order 14281, which rejected disparate-impact liability insofar as it “creates a near insurmountable presumption that unlawful discrimination exists wherever there are any differences in outcomes among different [demographic groups].”...