Now that the Democrats have lost their 60-vote supermajority in the Senate, it will be that much more difficult for the Obama administration to make good on many of its pro-employee campaign promises. But this still could be a key year for Democratic plans to revamp our national employment laws. Here are seven key initiatives pending in Congress and what they could mean for your business if they become law.

For most New York employers, complying with Title VII means they’re also in compliance with the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL). Courts typically lump the claims together. That’s not necessarily true if you operate in New York City.

Employment law attorney Eugene D’Ablemont turned 70 years old in 2001. He was just as productive as ever, consistently bringing in more than $1 million in fees to Kelly Drye & Warren, the international law firm in which he is a partner. Now he’s using his decades of legal experience against his own firm.

Citing “repulsive harassment and discrimination,” attorney Julie Kamps has sued her former employer, the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, for $50 million. Kamps said she was told her clothing didn’t “fit into typical feminine stereotypes.”

Federal and state laws that protect employees in general also protect young people in the workplace. But because of their youth and inexperience, teenage employees may be more vulnerable to harassment than other workers. The EEOC has launched the “Youth at Work” initiative in response to several high-profile teen sexual harassment cases.

Employers that take the time to document workplace problems usually don’t lose discrimination lawsuits. The reason is simple: A carefully documented work history—showing exactly how the employee was breaking rules or underperforming—makes it difficult to prove discrimination.

Ever since the EEOC began tracking discrimination complaints, race bias has been the most popular claim. Not anymore. Claims of employer retaliation now top the charts—33,613 claims in fiscal 2009. This means managers, supervisors (and you) need to be more careful than ever to avoid lashing out against employees or applicants who file—or simply voice—complaints of discrimination.

Most jobs can be quantified. That is, it’s possible to measure success on the job by tallying how much an employee produces in a given period—whether that’s widgets, reports, new clients or sales. By using such objective measures to decide who is terminated, employers have powerful evidence to counter discrimination claims.

If you offer severance pay to discharged workers, take note. If you’re terminating an older employee—and you ask the employee to waive the right to sue for alleged age discrimination in exchange for your severance package—be sure to offer something more than what you offer others who lose their jobs.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bars discrimination based on national origin. What constitutes national origin is broader than you might assume. According to the EEOC, national origin can be defined as the place where someone or her ancestors came from. But national origin is also a factor if someone has the “physical, cultural or linguistic characteristics of a national-origin group.”

It isn’t enough just to have a sexual harassment policy. You have to enforce it, investigating all complaints and then putting a stop to any behavior that could reasonably be interpreted as sexual harassment. Otherwise, the harasser might simply grow bolder. And that can spell disaster, especially if a jury winds up hearing from lots of other employees who came forward to complain over the course of months or years before the harassment got bad enough to warrant a lawsuit.

Warn supervisors and managers: They should treat temporary workers who come to you via an employment service or agency just like they do other employees. All the normal rules on workplace discrimination still apply. That means temps who experience harassment or discrimination may be able to sue both the temp agency and your company for that discrimination.

Some employers don’t want to hire applicants who haven’t succeeded elsewhere and create a blanket no-hire rule for any applicant who isn’t eligible for rehire by a former employer. If you’re tempted to do the same, make sure you enforce the rule uniformly and don’t make exceptions.

Texas workers who complained about workplace sexual harassment, religious intolerance, and age and race discrimination collected $2.7 million more in FY 2009 than they did in 2008.

Don’t worry too much about having a perfectly cordial workplace. As long as the workplace is relatively harmonious, courts won’t step in, as the following case shows.