The EEOC wants your 2¢ before giving its 2¢ on national origin discrimination, which will be free

Kinda like this blog. I’d settle for a sandwich to call it even. Maybe some ketchup packets.

Late last week, the EEOC announced here that, for the first time in 14 years, the agency in charge of enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws will update its current guidance on national origin discrimination. Actually, it has issued proposed guidance (here), which, among other things, addresses job segregation, human trafficking, and “intersectional discrimination.”

While only about 1 in 10 charges of discrimination filed with the EEOC checks the “national origin” box, national origin discrimination often overlaps with race, color, or religious discrimination. This is because one’s national origin may be associated or perceived to be associated with a particular religion or race. We’re seen that a lot recently with individuals from the Middle East who are Muslim.

If you want to comment on the proposed guidance, you can do that here. You have until July 1, 2016.

And speaking of the EEOC and July, if you’re going to be in San Francisco for the 2016 EEOC Excel Conference in mid-July, the conference agenda indicates that the EEOC’s General Counsel Office and “an experienced employment lawyer” will address the latest developments on LGBT rights in the workplace.

Let’s just say maybe you should bring your ketchup packets.