April 7, 2022
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Two Years In, NWLC Releases Sobering Study on Women’s Employment

 

While the disastrous recession that accompanied the first wave of global lockdowns has receded, women’s employment in the US remains in a dire place, according to a new study by the National Women’s Law Center. The full study can be accessed through the link, but we wanted to highlight some of the findings.

  • In 2022 there were 1.1 million fewer women in the labor force when compared to February 2020. Meanwhile, male labor force participation has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
  • While 78% of fathers who were laid off or quit have found new employment, only 41% of mothers have done so.
  • Almost 40% of women indicated that their family financial situation was worse off than it was pre-pandemic.
  • Covid-19 has had a negative impact on the mental health of 58% of women respondents.

As we have highlighted before, the pandemic had an outsize effect on the stability of women in the workforce, sometimes being dubbed the world’s first she-cession. Women tend to be overrepresented in sectors that saw some of the steepest employment declines and which continue to be hampered by outbreaks. The NWLC study demonstrates that this problem is not going away.

The Berke-Weiss Law Weekly Roundup: Black Pregnancy in New York City and School Reopening Reversals

August 10, 2020
Race Discrimination
Pregnancy Discrimination
We’re now a week into the expiration of the enhanced unemployment benefits of the CARES Act and the news is not good. Congress and the White House remain at least a trillion of dollars apart on a new deal, with the Senate GOP split, though their prized bit of the CARES Act, the corporate bailout, did not have an expiration date, unlike those parts aimed at protecting workers, such as the PUA and eviction moratoriums. Thus, with depressing predictability, there were a spate of alarming stories this week echoing the fears that tenant unions and activists have been voicing for months: by ending employment relief we are hurtling toward a cliff, over which lies massive, nationwide evictions.

The Week in FFCRA Complaints: Yet More Wrongful Terminations and Retaliation

August 10, 2020
Leave
Disability Discrimination
As we noted last week, employers seem not to have gotten the message on paid leave under FFCRA and the two notable cases that came up this week both involve employer retaliation and wrongful termination against employees who were protected under FFCRA.

The Berke-Weiss Law Weekly Roundup: While the Outlook Darkens, We Celebrate Some Small Victories

July 31, 2020
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The clock has essentially wound down on extending assistance for the 30+ million Americans currently on the unemployment rolls. White House officials and Congressional Democrats remain miles apart, with the latter rejecting a temporary extension of the benefits. There are also huge question marks over issues we focus on, particularly child care and employment law, both of which were in the news this week and are the subject of several of the stories we feature

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