NT Lakis lawyers have filed written comments with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on the agency’s proposed Enforcement Guidance on Workplace Retaliation under the various laws that the agency enforces. The proposed guidance would supersede the EEOC’s 1998 Compliance Manual chapter on Retaliation.
While commending the EEOC for seeking to update its 1998 enforcement guidance to reflect legal developments that have occurred since that time, our comments take issue with several aspects of the proposed guidance, including in some cases a blatant disregard of well-established EEO principles and legal authorities that simply do not support the agency’s expansive reading of the law. In addition, we express concern that the proposal is significantly longer and more complex than the one it purports to replace, making it of little practical utility to agency investigators, charging parties or respondents.
Accordingly, our comments make several recommendations on how the proposed guidance should be revised to bring it into line with established law, thus minimizing confusion and the potential for longer, more contentious administrative, investigative, and enforcement proceedings.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.