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For Berke-Weiss Law’s insights and resources about current events and their effects on employment law, see below.
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New Report Shows Paid Family and Sick Leave Essential for Women Remaining in the Workforce

February 1, 2021
A recent report from the Paid Leave for the US (PL+US), one of the leading campaigns to deliver federal-level paid family and medical leave has important findings about issues near to our hearts and our practice.

$20 Million Pinterest Settlement May Have Lasting Effects for HR Diversity Initiatives

January 15, 2021
A significant gender discrimination lawsuit brought by the former COO against her former employer, Pintrerest, at the end of last year may have hiring and diversity ramifications far beyond the doors of the Silicon Valley organization.

Women's Employment Still Reeling from Pandemic’s Effects

January 12, 2021
According to the latest analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the pandemic and lockdowns continue to have an outsize effect on women’s employment in the U.S. with fewer than half (44.6%) of the jobs women lost between February and December returning. Another way of looking at it is that roughly 12 million jobs simply disappeared. Or, as Representative Katie Porter tweeted, “Women. Accounted. For. All. The. Losses.”

Paid Maternity Leave Finds an Unlikely Champion, But Is That Enough?

January 8, 2021
On the heels of some important wins for paid leave in the 2020 election, paid maternity leave has found a new supporter. One who you might not have expected: conservative co-host of The View Megan McCain. The challenge is, as Monica Hesse notes, “how we can speed up this process so that it doesn’t require every leave-denier to personally birth a child before they also get on board.”

Motivational Speaker Tony Robbins Sued over Covid-related Discrimination

December 29, 2020
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A new lawsuit, filed by an employee of the motivational speaker Tony Robbins, alleges that Robins’s company, Robbins Research International, along with Robbins and his wife Bonnie, discriminated against the employee who requested reasonable accommodations be met for her recovery from coronavirus.

Doctor’s Video Underscores How Structural Racism Permeates the Medical Profession

December 29, 2020
One of the most devastating forms in which structural race discrimination appears is in the worlds of medicine and health care where people of color, especially Black people are provided with inferior forms of care, which are often deadly.

Emergency Paid Leave and Sick Days under Fire in New Stimulus Negotiations

December 21, 2020
As Congress races to finalize a new round of stimulus for the nation, stricken at the moment with the winter surge that epidemiologists predicted, workers are under threat of losing access to paid emergency leave as well as paid sick days. According to the National Partnership for Women & Families, allowing such provisions to expire would be a grave mistake.

Childcare Costs Skyrocket in 2020

December 9, 2020
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Child care has not been affordable for a long time now, especially not for poor and working class parents, but with the pandemic forcing the closure of schools and childcare facilities across the country, costs have shot up even more as parents scramble to figure out what to do with their children as they try to balance work and family.

Special Issue of Harvard Law & Policy Review Focuses on Pregnancy

December 7, 2020
The Harvard Law & Policy review has recently devoted an issue to the special theme of “The Politics of Pregnancy.” It contains numerous responses to and discussions of myriad political issues of pregnancy in the U.S. and abroad, including increased emphasis on maternal health, abortion access, surrogacy, and state intervention into matters of women’s health, including the effects of incarceration on mothers.

Changes to New York Employment Laws to Have Lasting Impact, Says Law360

December 3, 2020
This week Law 360 published a helpful guide to how the pandemic has changed employment law in New York and what kinds of impacts those changes will have into 2021 and beyond.

Can Employers Require Workers to Get Vaccines?

December 3, 2020
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Now that a vaccine, or more accurately, many vaccines, seems inevitable, an important new question has emerged: Can employers require workers to vaccinate?

Women Leaders Weigh in on the Pandemic and Beyond

November 23, 2020
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As part of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, New York Times reporters and editors sought the perspectives of some of the leading executives in the business and finance world about the role women have and can continue to play in the post-pandemic work world.

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