Seyfarth Testifies Before the Senate HELP Committee on ENDA

Seyfarth Shaw presented testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday, November 5th regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 (ENDA). The testimony of Camille Olson, Chair of Seyfarth Shaw's Complex Discrimination Litigation Practice Group, provided helpful insights into the legal ambiguities of some of the current language and offered practical solutions to address those uncertainties to ensure employers and employees understand their rights and obligations under ENDA.

Specifically, the testimony addresses the following ambiguities in the language as currently drafted:

• Whether Title VII and ENDA will provide duplicate causes of action for sex stereotyping;
• The definition of disparate impact under ENDA;
• Whether ENDA was intended to provide more robust remedies for attorneys’ fees than those available under Title VII;
• Determining what triggers an employer’s affirmative obligations with regard to shared facilities and application of its dressing and grooming standards;
• Whether “certain shared facilities” include restrooms; and
• Whether employers are required to modify existing facilities.