Employment Law Developments in 2008

There were a handful of important legislative changes in the employment law field in 2008, including:

• amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act (learn more about these amendments, referred to as "the ADAAA," in our article, "ADA Amendments: More Protections for People With Disabilities")
• passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (called "GINA"), which goes into effect in November 2009 and will prohibit employers from collecting, or making employment decisions based on, genetic information, and
• amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to allow leave for family members of those in the military, as well as revised FMLA regulations (learn more in our articles, "Family and Medical Leave for Military Family Members," and "New FMLA Regulations Change Rules on Notice and Certifications").

The Supreme Court also issued some important decisions in 2008, including:

• two decisions on age discrimination (you can read about them in a post on Nolo's Employment Law Blog, here)
• two decisions on retaliation (read about those here)
• a decision clarifying what constitutes filing a charge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (covered in our blog here), and
• a decision on so-called "me too" evidence, provided by employees other than the plaintiff who claim that they were also mistreated (find out more here).