The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published for public comment proposed revisions to its enforcement guidance on national origin discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). According to an accompanying EEOC press release, the proposed revisions are intended to incorporate significant legal developments that have occurred since the guidance was last updated in 2002, and to address other important issues such as, among other things, “human trafficking, and intersectional discrimination.”
For the most part, the proposed revisions merely restate or build upon settled legal principles, including the extent to which an employer may impose language restrictions or adopt English-only workplace rules without violating Title VII. In a few instances, however, the revised guidance purports to incorporate some unsettled legal principles or doubles-down on policy positions that arguably go beyond the scope of Title VII.
This is a “sub-regulatory” agency action that is not subject to the formal notice-and-comment rulemaking process that must be followed in the case of proposed changes to formal agency regulations. Thus, to the EEOC’s credit, although not required to, it is giving interested parties an opportunity for input before finalizing any revisions.
The EEOC’s press release announcing the proposed revisions is available here. A copy of the proposed guidance itself can be found here.
Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.