The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday released a technical assistance document on caregiver discrimination well as an update to document explaining discrimination against employees and job seekers with family care-giving responsibilities during the pandemic.
“The work that caregivers do — whether as employees or as unpaid workers in the family — is in all of our interests,” EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows stated. “By ensuring that caregivers know their rights and employers understand their responsibilities, the EEOC will help ensure that America’s recovery from the pandemic is an equitable one.”
The documents expound on standing EEOC employment discrimination laws, which include a protected characteristic such as sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), race, color, religion, national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. The pandemic added some nuances to EEOC protections, particularly against caregiver discrimination.
In the technical assistance document, the EEOC applies established policy positions to discuss when discrimination against applicants and employees related to pandemic care-giving responsibilities may violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), Titles I and V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) (or Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehabilitation Act) or other EEOC-enforced laws.
In addition to standard workplace anti-discrimination laws, caregiver discrimination violates federal employment discrimination laws when it is based on an applicant’s or employee’s association with an individual with a disability within the meaning of the ADA, or on the race, ethnicity or other protected characteristic of the individual for whom care is provided. Caregiver discrimination violates EEOC laws if it is based on intersections among these characteristics (for example, discrimination against Black female/male caregivers based on racial and gender stereotypes, or discrimination against Christian female/male caregivers based on religious and gender stereotypes).
It is legal to allow a parent flexibility such as telework, modified schedules or other benefits to employees with school-aged children due to school closures or distance learning during the pandemic, as long as the flexibilities are offered to employees regardless of gender or other EEOC-protected characteristics.
Employers also may not discriminate against applicants or employees with other care-giving responsibilities. Caregiver discrimination protections apply to workers with any type of care-giving responsibilities, including caring for children, spouses, partners, relatives, individuals with disabilities or others, the agency said.
