Oct 14, 2020
by Betsey Mooney On Friday, October 9, 2020, the United States Department of Education announced the rescission and replacement of the 2016 Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting (the “2016 Handbook”). In its announcement, the Department asserted the 2016 Handbook and its predecessors had improperly created additional requirements and expanded the scope of the Clery Act and its accompanying regulations, providing guidance that was “unnecessarily voluminous.” In response to these concerns, and in keeping with Executive Order 13891 (stating
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Jul 24, 2020
by Adam Henningsen The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued an important decision concerning the “ministerial exception” to federal employment discrimination laws. The ministerial exception is a legal doctrine that protects religious entities from being sued for alleged discrimination. Courts generally refrain from adjudicating matters involving employment decisions regarding employees who perform certain functions for churches and other religious institutions. This “ministerial exception” comes from the First Amendment principle that governmental regulation of church administration, including the appointment of ministers, impedes
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Jul 23, 2020
by Jim Layton Governor Parson has completed action on bills passed by the 2020 Missouri General Assembly. Many of the bills the governor signed may affect Tueth Keeney clients. Among the significant provisions of those bills, most of which become effective August 28:
- The tort reform bill changes the law regarding punitive damages. It imposes new procedural requirements and a higher burden of proof, bars juries from basing punitive damage awards on harm to persons other than plaintiffs in
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May 29, 2020
by Lisa Berns The Missouri legislature’s truncated and recently completed 2020 session did not produce as much legislation as is typical. Nonetheless one of the few bills that has made it out of the capitol has some terms that (assuming it is not vetoed by Governor Parson) Missouri public school district and community college district officials should be fully aware of for all new contracts, requests for proposal and purchase orders going forward. Truly agreed to and finally passed Senate
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May 6, 2020
by Veronica Potter On May 6, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education (“ED”) released the final Title IX regulations (“Final Rule”). ED had previously issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) in November 2018. The NPRM was subject to notice and comment through January 2019, and during this time, over 124,000 comments were submitted to ED. The implementation date for the Final Rule is August 14, 2020. The Final Rule is quite lengthy – over 2,000
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May 6, 2020
Kate Nash will join a panel of esteemed speakers on May 13th for a discussion focusing on helping higher education institutions identify common legal issues, projects, and problems that, while not created by the COVID-19 pandemic, were brought to the forefront by it. The session will be divided into four topics (student issues, employment issues, risk management issues, and corporate issues), and identify key issues such as hearing formats and logistics for Title IX proceedings; faculty handbook and contract issues;
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Mar 20, 2020
On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act.” This law, among other provisions, expands rights to Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) leave and provides for paid leave for employees impacted by COVID-19. This update provides guidance about provisions specific to public education employers. The provisions discussed in this update all sunset on December 31, 2020. These provisions go into effect on April 1, 2020. The law directs the Department of Labor (“DOL”)
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Apr 5, 2019
Ian Cooper was a featured speaker at the meeting of the National Association of College and University Attorneys, in Seattle Washington, on April 5, 2019. Ian discussed the constitutional framework for evaluating employee political speech on college and university campuses and presented with the General Counsel of the University of Florida, the General Counsel of the University of Northern Arizona, and the Deputy Campus Counsel at the University of California at Berkeley on the topic of
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Mar 1, 2019
In two decisions handed down on February 26, 2019, the Missouri Supreme Court waded into two questions under the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA): whether sex stereotyping is enough to constitute a claim under the MHRA, and whether a student transitioning from female to male can insist on access to restrooms and locker rooms reserved for males. The court also waded into a question of proper procedure under Missouri administrative law. But in no respect did the Court””or at least
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Jan 24, 2019
The deadline to submit comments on the proposed Title IX regulations is quickly approaching. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Title IX was released by the Department of Education on November 16, 2018, and was published in the Federal Register on November 28, 2018, starting the clock on the 60 day comment period. Comments can be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at Regulations.gov. To date, over 66,000 comments have been submitted in response
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Elizabeth J. Mooney
James R. Layton
Lisa J. Berns
Veronica E. Potter
Kate L. Nash
Ian P. Cooper
Michelle H. Basi
Mollie G. Mohan