HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Melanie Fontes Rainer on Progress and News at OCR
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
Podcast - Data Privacy and Tracking Technology Compliance
Patient Data and Privacy
2022 DSIR Deeper Dive: OCR’s Right of Access Initiative
HIPAA Tips With Williams Mullen - Telehealth After the Pandemic
Relaxed HIPAA Restrictions For Providers Using Telehealth
Webinar: Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus
[Revised and updated from my previous blog post in August]. As you know, the Department of Education is empowered to craft regulations to fulfill Congress’ mandate for sex equity under Title IX. The Department (ED),...more
Picture this: you receive a complaint from a student who is a member of your school district or institution’s student newspaper alleging Title IX sexual harassment that involves a fellow member of the student newspaper staff....more
On July 19, 2022, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) released several guidance documents concerning the civil rights of students...more
Recently, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Request for Information that asks members of the public to submit written comments regarding the administration of school discipline in...more
It has been a week! We now know that Joe Biden is the President-Elect of the United States of America. There will still be some legal wrangling, and nothing is set in stone until the electors vote in December. But, assuming...more
When it issued its final Title IX regulations in May 2020, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said in the preamble to the rules that it would not enforce the final rules retroactively. It repeated that...more
On May 6, 2020, the United States Department of Education issued its long-awaited Final Regulations (the “Regulations”) that focus on Title IX protections for victims of sexual misconduct. The new regulations impose a number...more
As you are all well aware by now, the U.S. Department of Education recently issued its final Title IX regulations. While we continue to wade through the over 2,000-page document issued by the ED (consisting of the new...more
The U.S. Department of Education has issued its long-awaited final Title IX regulations (“Final Rule”), providing guidance to schools, colleges and universities. ...more
One of the biggest changes from the new Title IX regulations issued by the Department of Education last week is that, beginning in August 2020, OCR’s complaint findings will be based on standards very similar to those used by...more
After a lengthy notice and comment process and much anticipation, new Title IX regulations were issued by the U.S. Department of Education on May 6, 2020. The regulations comprise approximately 25 pages, and the preamble to...more
After almost one-and-a-half years since issuing its original proposed rule, the U.S. Department of Education has issued final Title IX regulations effective August 14, 2020. Although analyzing the changes will take some time,...more
Cyberbullying is nothing new. A majority of teens have experienced the phenomenon and college campuses certainly are not immune. Just because something is common does not make it simple to deal with, however. And this is...more
As an Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigator, I was surprised by the number of times I saw the same issues again and again in Title IX sexual misconduct investigations. Nowhere was this more evident than with...more
Most changes we’ve seen from the U.S. Department of Education (Department) these past two-and-a-half years have dealt with sex, gender, race, color, and national origin—not disability—and most have reduced federal oversight,...more
The Fourth Circuit broke new ground in the Title IX landscape last week, reversing a district court’s dismissal of a lawsuit in which students alleged their university violated Title IX by failing to adequately respond to...more
The 180-page report of the Federal Commission on School Safety is out, and garnering significant media attention. ...more
On November 16, 2018, the U.S. Department of Education proposed a new rule under Title IX, the 1972 federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities that receive...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education released a proposed rule to amend the regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX)....more
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and its corresponding regulations prohibit sex discrimination in education programs or activities conducted by educational institutions that receive federal financial...more
On September 22, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague Letter withdrawing the statements of policy and guidance reflected in two key documents about Title IX and sexual violence...more
After years of decisions in which the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) criticized colleges' and universities' handling of claims filed by individuals alleging sexual assault on campus, OCR now...more