Employment law #10YearChallenge: What a difference a decade has made

In early 2019, social media feeds were filled with “10-year challenge” posts. To participate, users posted photos of themselves from 2009 and 2019, side by side, with the hashtag “#10YearChallenge.” As a new decade takes off, the challenge has gained traction again with celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and Caitlyn Jenner, athletes like Dwayne Wade and Shawn Johnson, and even your Aunt Susie, who wants to show off her drastic fitness transformation.Just as people can change dramatically over the course of a decade, the legal landscape can evolve significantly as well. Let's look at the difference the decade has made with several key employment laws.

5. GINA

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) took effect November 21, 2009. It became unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire, discharge, classify, or “otherwise adversely affect the status” of an employee or applicant based on any “genetic information” about the worker or a “family member.”

Over the last 10 years, the overall volume of GINA charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been low. In 2018, the agency reported receiving only about 220 complaints (0.3% of the agency's caseload). Nevertheless, the law has made its mark in a few important cases.

4. FMLA expansions