Deborah Widiss

Complying With Trump Administration’s Attack on DEI Could Get Employers Into Legal Trouble Trump’s anti-DEI agenda is pushing companies to gut programs that actually help them comply with longstanding anti-discrimination laws.

Complying With Trump Administration’s Attack on DEI Could Get Employers Into Legal Trouble msmagazine.com/2025/09/12/t...

Complying with Trump administration’s attack on DEI could get employers into legal trouble There are many legal ways for employers to advance their commitment to equal opportunity without discriminating against anyone.

Sharing an article (co-written with Stephanie Bornstein, Rachel Arnow-Richman, and Tristin Green) explaining why and how companies should continue programs designed to promote workplace diversity, notwithstanding the Trump administration's attacks on DEI. theconversation.com/complying-wi...

3 Resources To Help Companies Design And Defend Legal DEI Programs Most business leaders still view diversity, equity and inclusion as a business necessity. Legal experts offer advice for designing and defending lawful DEI initiatives.

.@forbes.com featured new efforts by Prof. @deborahwidiss.bsky.social and fellow co-creators of The Legal DEI Project, who are helping employers make informed decisions in designing and defending legal DEI initiatives across the country.

www.forbes.com/sites/michel...

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act After Dobbs | The Regulatory Review Recent legislation could protect pregnant workers who choose to have an abortion.

The Regulatory Review cites work from Prof. @deborahwidiss.bsky.social on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act After Dobbs. www.theregreview.org/2025/07/08/w...

3 Resources To Help Companies Design And Defend Legal DEI Programs Most business leaders still view diversity, equity and inclusion as a business necessity. Legal experts offer advice for designing and defending lawful DEI initiatives.

Glad to have been able to contribute to a Forbes article on risks that may flow from abandoning all DEI efforts -- and what businesses can still do to promote workplace diversity. www.forbes.com/sites/michel...

Antidiscrimination Advocates Should Welcome Thomas’s Overture Opinion: Three antidiscrimination scholars say they find themselves agreeing with Justice Thomas’s concurrence in the Ames decision: It’s time to retire the McDonnell Douglas test.

Glad to be able to write an op-ed with @katieeyer.bsky.social & @sandrasperino.bsky.social on why it's time to retire the judge-made rules used to dismiss employment discrimination cases: news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Featuring comments from Prof. @deborahwidiss.bsky.social

TikTok Brings #MeToo Arbitration Opt-Out Back to Appellate Level TikTok‘s appellate fight to send a female executive’s discrimination lawsuit to arbitration gives another federal circuit the chance to decide whether allegations of “sexual” misconduct are required t...

Prof. @deborahwidiss.bsky.social spoke with @bloomberglaw.com for:

I’m looking forward to this conversation - and learning from my great co-panelists!

My new article, The Sexual Harassment Silo (forthcoming, Penn. L. Rev.), analyzes dozens of new laws passed to respond to #MeToo, including a federal ban on #forcedarbitration, and their importance in the current--much changed--political environment. Full draft here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

A Challenge to the Health of Pregnant Workers—and the Health of Our Constitutional Democracy The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act enjoyed broad bipartisan support, easily passed the House, and was favorably reported out of committee in the Senate. It did not take long, however, for attacks to en...

Prof. @deborahwidiss.bsky.social has an op-ed out today in Ms. Magazine on a Texas lawsuit challenging the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

Pleased to share my new article, "The Solicitor General, Consistency, and Credibility," co-authored with Margaret Lemos. We argue the SG sometimes has good reason to change position, but also such flips may be critiqued as wrongheaded on the substance. Available here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....