The 2018 national elections gave Democrats majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in eight years. As we predicted at the time, one of the major priorities of the new majority was to revise the federal labor and employment laws to make them more employee-friendly.
Although the 2020 session of Congress has just begun, the House this week passed yet another major employee-friendly employment law change that would make it easier for a plaintiff to prove discrimination. As discussed in more detail below, the so-called Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, also known as POWADA (H.R. 1230), would allow “mixed-motive” claims not only under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), but also under the anti-retaliation provisions of Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Despite all this House action, however, we should stress once again that there is little interest within the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate for moving these House-passed bills, and similarly there is little enthusiasm within the Trump White House to push for Senate action.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.