NACUA Winter 2024 Virtual CLE Workshop: Employment Law

Higher education employment and labor law continues to be ever-changing either through rulings from the courts or changes in regulations or regulatory interpretations. College and university leaders must navigate a complex landscape, one that is evolving in response to technological advances, economic pressures, societal changes, and judicial and legislative shifts. Staying ahead of the curve is not just a matter of compliance; it’s a matter of survival. Robinson Bradshaw litigator Mark Merritt presented at the NACUA's Employment Law Workshop and explored the wave of new regulations and amendments to existing laws that promise to significantly impact the way colleges and universities do business. In addition to exploring this changing landscape, the Workshop highlighted legal developments in some of the more standard areas of employment law practice. Session topics included: 

• How the Supreme Court ruling that race cannot be used in admissions requirements, and its progeny, impacts higher education employers and their diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts broadly.
• The rising tension around remote work and leave – does anyone want to come to work anymore? 
• The use of artificial intelligence in the hiring process and EEOC’s words of caution that this practice could result in inequity and employment discrimination violations.
• The upsurge of labor organizing among workers, specifically student workers, and how best to navigate regulators’ and claimants’ increased efforts to ensure that labor laws and protections are applied and enforced correctly within workplace environments.
• Adopting a higher standard of proof in establishing undue hardship related to religious accommodations. 
• The National Labor Relations Board’s aggressive agenda to reverse employer-favorable rules, including the expansion of available remedies for an unfair labor practice, expansion of the test for conduct that constitutes protected concerted activity, whether someone can be an independent contractor, whether the use of standard confidentiality and non-compete provisions somehow violate the law, and more.
• The adoption of pay transparency legislation, its continuing expansion nationwide, and how these laws may apply to your institution even if you do not do business in those jurisdictions.

Other issues discussed included navigating complex retaliation issues, recognizing and addressing faculty and staff free speech issues, and other local/state initiatives that may impact how organizations approach HR issues. Learn more here.