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Before leaving office, former President Joe Biden declared the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) the law of the land. The 28th Amendment, which declares that Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex, is operative, according to ERA advocates. Now that Biden acknowledged the ERA, the next steps are celebration and implementation, says Kati Hornung, cofounder and executive director of VoteEquality!, a nonpartisan group promoting equal rights for all. The American Bar Association passed a resolution in October 2024 affirming the 28th Amendment achieved every requirement for ratification under Article V of the Constitution. ABAs resolution urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to support implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment and urges all bar associations and the legal community as a whole to support implementation of the ERA. However, there are skeptics. When Congress proposed the ERA in 1972, they made it a conditional proposal to add language to the Constitution, if and only if, it was ratified within seven years, says Stephen E. Sachs, the Antonin Scalia Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. The original deadline for ratification was 1979 but Congress voted to extend that to 1982. Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA in January 2020. If people are supportive of it, they need to go back to the beginning, they should propose it again and we’ll see if the country wants to ratify it, Sachs says. Despite skepticism by opponents, ERA advocates say they are moving forward with implementation. Federal, state, and local jurisdictions should begin reviewing their laws for sexism and sexist language because any statute contrary to the ERA would be unconstitutional. Meanwhile, plaintiffs can cite the 28th Amendment in discrimination cases. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), an outspoken advocate for the ERA, is working on a bill that would require a review of federal laws to eliminate any sexism or sexist language. “If this administration wants to go after womens rights, well see you in court, says Sen. Gillibrand. State ERAs could provide more protection Yet, for there to be broad-based acceptance of the ERA, advocates will need politicians and judges to endorse this idea, says Ting Ting Cheng, director of the ERA project at Columbia Law School Center for Gender and Sexuality Law. Given all the upheaval happening in Washington, D.C., Cheng admits the ERA might not gain any additional political champions at the moment. But, Cheng says, that doesnt mean the ERA isnt the 28th Amendment. No executive order will undo the ratification of 38 states, she says. Executive orders cannot override the United States Constitution, federal statutes, or established legal precedent. Instead, Cheng believes there may be more opportunity for success in the current political climate at the state level because 28 states have their own ERAs with language that is more inclusive and expansive than the language in the 28th Amendment. Most state ERAs include a broader definition of sex to include sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, she says. For instance, New York State recently passed an ERA that states, No person shall, because of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed [or], religion, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy, be subjected to any discrimination in [his or her] their civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the state, pursuant to law. State ERAs have been used to challenge and overturn abortion restrictions. In Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico, state ERAs were used to protect public funding for abortion. In addition to protecting women, state ERAs can be used to push against federal policies targeting trans youth healthcare and immigration, Cheng says. People are not thinking creatively about state ERAs, Cheng says. The passage of these state ERAs are not under dispute and, in many cases, they can provide more protections than the federal ERA, she says. States could become gender justice laboratories, she adds. States are finding their statues are biased against women Several states without ERAs, including Arizona and North Carolina, have completed reviews of their state statutes to find potentially outdated or discriminatory language in anticipation of the 28th Amendments enactment. ERA Task Force AZ issued a 652-page report Equality for All that proposes changes to state statutes to comply with the federal ERA. Many suggested changes include adopting neutral terms such as person instead of masculine terms such as men or chairman, says Dianne Post, cochair of ERA Task Force AZ. The most serious problems we found were in criminal law, in healthcare related to abortion, and family law, she says. A copy of the report was sent to every state legislator but, so far, none of the proposed changes have been made, Post says. She anticipates several bills will be introduced this legislative session. Meanwhile in North Carolina, the ERA-NC Alliance conducted a review of its state statutes and found more than 21,000 gender specific terms that needed further review, according to Audrey Muck, the alliances copresident. One of the most concerning is the term femme coverture, which means a married woman has no independent legal rights and cannot enter contracts or own property without her husbands permission, and is still in the states code of law. The Alliance brought that issue to the North Carolina General Statutes Commission and the Commission is seeking a technical correction. With or without the ERA, any state would want to make sure their statutes apply equally to men and women, says Greg McConnell, chief pro bono officer at Winston & Strawn LLP, the law firm that helped the ERA-NC Alliance review its state statutes.
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E-Commerce
Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning recently surveyed leaders and L&D professionals about what theyre looking for in a leadership development program. At the top of the list? Scalability. One of my passionsand one of the reasons my company developed our own learning platformis expanding access to leadership development, so its exciting to see companies recognizing how important scalability is. At the same time; however, I know that making scalability work at your organization can be a tall order. For a long time, scalability and quality have seemed at odds in leadership development. An organization could spend its budget on highly effective, but expensive options like coaching for fewer people. Or it could bring leadership development to more employees, but settle for cookie-cutter programs. But that conundrum is becoming a thing of the past. Scalability and quality can go together in leadership developmentno matter the size of your training budget. To get both, though, you have to embrace an approach thats both high-tech and high-touch. Why is scalability so important? Before we get into the nuts and bolts of scaling quality leadership development, lets talk about why its such a big deal right now. For starters, theres a real gap in leadership pipelines. Only 20% of companies feel confident that they have strong future leaders lined up, and this is something we hear from clients all the time. At the same time, companies are starting to recognize the power of informal leadersthe people who dont have a leadership title but still play a huge role in driving teams forward. A recent Harvard Business Publishing report highlights how organizations are shifting toward flatter structures and more cross-functional collaboration. That means people who used to simply carry out tasks are now expected to influence stakeholders, make strategic decisions, and communicate business impactin other words, to lead, even without a formal title. With leadership expectations evolving, the challenge isnt just developing leadersits making sure leadership skills reach everyone who needs them. With tech, think beyond AI That brings us back to the question of how to make leadership development more scalable while maintaining quality. With just about any issue in business, people seem to rush to AI as the answer. While exciting things are going on, AI isnt a magic-bullet solution for leadership development yet. The lingering problem is getting people (and teams) to actually use and benefit from them. But AI can be part of your scalability solution. In the Harvard survey, 60% of respondents said theyre incorporating AI into their development programs. (As my own company trains an AI coach, were focusing on making sure that using the coach will fit into peoples busy schedules.) However, dont let AI overshadow other useful technologies. Micro-learning platforms are another huge trend right now, with nine out of 10 L&D professionals saying that the employees they serve prefer them. Ive seen firsthand with our own platform how busy professionals embrace using snackable content to get leadership insights when and where they need them. Technology can also extend the reach of other leadership development tools. If youre used to thinking in terms of using a single leadership development program at your organization, this may require a shift in mindset. But theres lots of potential. For example, my company is very excited right now about the potential of combining our learning platform with our coaching services to help companies stretch their budgets farther. Enlist your current leaders for development As I touched on earlier, technology is only part of the story when it comes to scaling leadership development. Leaders will always need to learn from other leaders, no matter how advanced AI and other high-tech tools become. Ive also found that most organizations havent fully tapped into the knowledge their own people have. Unleashing this knowledge makes it a whole lot easier to scale leadership development. One strategy I always recommend is teaching your current leaders (including the informal ones) how they can help develop others. Ensure that the development they receive includes both coaching and delegation skills. Employees whose managers are adept coaches are eight times more engaged. And delegation gives employees a chance to grow in the flow of workIve seen firsthand that this approach amplifies engagement, innovation, and customer satisfaction. Another way to enlist current leaders in scaling development is creating a mentoring program or updating your current one. Some of your employees may already have mentors or mentees, but formalizing mentorship programs makes them more powerful. Mentorship doesnt just impart the information your people need to develop as leaders. It also ensures that information is relevantthe touchstone of an effective leadership development programand it helps build the relationships your future leaders need. Whats next? Im optimistic about scalable leadership development and the possibilities it holds. Making leadership development available to more employees will affect productivityand even small shifts in productivity across a large population of employees can lead to big results. So how do you want to get the ball rolling to integrate scalability into your organizations approach?
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E-Commerce
Changes may be happening to the government at lightning speed, but come April, tax season will still be in full swing. And this year, it might be advisable to file early. At the moment, the government has until March 14 to avoid a shutdown, while President Trump and Elon Musk are continuing their mass layoffs of federal workers, including potentially cutting the IRS workforce by half. This could very well lead to delays in getting your refund. Chye-Ching Huang, executive director of NYUs Tax Law Center, predicted that federal government layoffs will hurt everyday Americans who pay their taxes and count on the IRS to pay refunds on time while encouraging wealthy people and large businesses to cheat on their taxes. Yet, even as this tax season seems particularly topsy-turvy, its still worth doing your homework to understand whats the same and whats different this year, in an effort to make 2025 “your” year financially. Here are a few things to keep in mind: Make sure your personal data is safe from DOGE Filing taxes inherently means turning over personal data to the government. While as of yet, DOGE doesnt have access to the IRS, Musk is pushing for access to the IRSs databases. In a recent article, Fast Company personal finance writer Emily Guy Birken shared tips on protecting your personal information and finances. This included freezing your credit, and opening accounts at my Social Security and IRS.gov to prevent fraudsters from accessing your tax benefits. Decide to DIY or hire out Paying taxes is already painful enough, but doing them requires choosing between time (filing them yourself) and money (paying someone else to file them). If you work for one employer and are taking a standard deduction, your taxes are probably straightforward enough that its worth filing them yourself. And if you earn $84,000 or less, you may qualify to use the IRS’s online Free File program. However, if you work for yourself or have gone through a major life change last yearsuch as getting married (or divorced) or adding a new family member, selling a major asset such as a house or stock, or having moved to a different stateit might be worth the several-hundred dollars to pay a CPA to make sure you minimize errors and maximize your refund. Get up to speed on which deduction is best for you Taxpayers can choose between the standard deduction and itemizing deductions. The former is a lump sum that is deducted from taxable income, the latter requires itemizing expenses, which are then deducted from taxable income. In 2017, Trump nearly doubled the standard deduction, making it the better option for most taxpayers. For the current tax year, the standard deduction is $14,600 for single people, and $29,200 for married couples filing jointly. Understand the 1099-K Roughly one-third of Americans are gig workers, freelancers, or independent contractors. If youre one of them, heads up: You might be getting a 1099-K form this year. The 1099-K is used to report payments received through third-party platforms, such as eBay, Uber or Lyft, Etsy, and Venmo. Though the 1099-K has been around since 2012, it used to be for only those who earned $20,000 or more and had 200 or more transactions. This year, if you made $5,000 or more on third-party platforms, youll receive a 1099-K. Before starting your returns, review your 1099-K to make sure it doesnt include nontaxable payments such as Venmo transactions from friends and family, or items you sold at a loss. If there is nontaxable income included on your 1099-K, the IRS has added a space on the Schedule 1 form where you can report all the nontaxable income.
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E-Commerce
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