Legal Briefs & Testimony

Comments on Proposed Health Coverage Affordability Safe Harbor for Employers, IRS Notice 2011-73

December 13, 2011

The National Women's Law Center submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service in response to a notice proposing a safe harbor to protect employers from liability for penalties under the Affordable Care Act when they ensure that coverage is affordable for their employees based on employees’ W-2 wages.  NWLC recommends modifying the proposed safe harbor to better promote access to affordable coverage for employees and their families.

Letter to DoEd re: Title IX Compliance at Penn State

December 11, 2011

The National Women’s Law Center was one of nine civil rights organizations that sent this letter to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) urging OCR to review Penn State’s compliance with Title IX in light of allegations of sexual abuse by assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, and the University’s failure to properly respond to the abuse.

Testimony of Coalition before Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee for a Hearing on Women and the Arab Spring: Spotlight on Egypt, Tunisia and Libya

November 02, 2011

Testimony for a hearing on "Women and the Arab Spring: Spotlight on Egypt, Tunisia and Libya" before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women’s Issues and The Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Central Asian Affairs. The hearing shines a spotlight on the importance of ensuring women’s rights as these new democracies begin to take shape and urge that the committee consider the importance of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in supporting these efforts.

Proposed Rulemaking for the Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit, REG-131491-10

October 31, 2011

The National Women's Law Center submitted comments to Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner recommending a number of changes and clarifications to strengthen the proposed Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit rule and ensure that women and families fully benefit from the premium tax credit in the manner intended by the Affordable Care Act.

Bipartisan Coalition Ltr. to Senate HELP Committee re Federal Accountability in ESEA 10.19.11

October 19, 2011

In an unprecedented show of unity in advance of today’s Senate mark-up of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2011, a bipartisan coalition of civil rights groups, business associations, statewide education officials, and education advocates are declining to support the bill proposed by HELP Committee Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Enzi due in large part to the absence of accountability measures that narrow the achievement gaps for low-income students, students of color, English language learners, and students with disabilities.

NWLC Letter to Senate HELP Committee re: ESEA 10.19.11

October 19, 2011

The Senate HELP Committee is currently marking up a bill to reauthorize ESEA.  This bill falls seriously short of ensuring that all children have access to a quality education that will prepare them for college and careers, despite the fact that it contains some positive elements.  The bill sets no goals or targets for states to improve student achievement or graduation rates, and leaves it up to each state to determine which achievement gaps merit attention. The bill also does not go far enough to effectively address bullying, harassment, and excessive disciplinary practices, among other things.

Exemption of Child Support Enforcement Under Sequester

October 14, 2011

The National Women's Law Center’s legal memo to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) explains that child support enforcement is explicitly exempt from automatic cuts (“sequester”) under the Budget Control Act of 2011 as a program serving low-income people.

NWLC Comments to OFCCP Re: Proposed Non-Discrimination Data Collection Tool

October 11, 2011

 The Center strongly supports the Department of Labor's proposal for a new compensation data collection tool to combat pay discrimination in federal contractor workplaces. Such a tool could play an important role in promoting OFCCP’s mission to ensure nondiscrimination and equal opportunity in the workplace.

Amicus Brief: Biediger v. Quinnipiac University

September 07, 2011

After Quinnipiac University decided to eliminate its women’s volleyball team in 2009, the members of the team and their coach sued the university for violating Title IX, the law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex in schools that receive federal funds.   After a trial, the federal district court in Connecticut ruled in their favor, holding that Quinnipiac was denying its female students equal opportunity to participate in varsity athletics, and  Quinnipiac appealed. The National Women’s Law Center, on behalf of 20 women’s and civil rights organizations, submitted a brief in support of the female athletes, which discusses several issues that are key to efforts to ensure that girls and women receive equal opportunity to participate in sports, including the standard for determining whether a school is providing “substantially proportionate” opportunity to its female students, that cheerleading cannot be treated as a varsity sport at this time, and that schools should not be permitted to manipulate their rosters to make it appear that they are complying with Title IX.

NWLC Letter to Secretary Duncan re: ESEA Waivers and Accountability

September 06, 2011

This letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan outlines the Center’s concerns regarding the Department of Education’s plan to waive some of the requirements for states under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA, or No Child Left Behind). Most states have indicated their intention to for these.  In evaluating the requests, it is imperative that the Department maintain core provisions of ESEA’s accountability system, such as the requirement that states, districts, and schools demonstrate continued progress toward and be held accountable for improving student academic achievement and graduation rates. This is especially critical among subgroups of students.  The Center urged the Department to require states that get waivers to collect and disseminate data on graduation rates, academic assessments, and any other indicators of student performance that are fully disaggregated, including by gender, and cross-tabulated by gender and race/ethnicity.