Discrimination

  • August 19, 2024

    6th Circ. Backs $250K Jury Win In Sergeant's Retaliation Suit

    The Sixth Circuit on Monday upheld a $250,000 jury verdict finding that a Michigan county brought retaliatory use-of-force criminal charges against a sheriff's office sergeant for filing a previous lawsuit, ruling he put forward enough proof that the charges he was hit with may have been bogus.

  • August 19, 2024

    Facility Management Co. Settles EEOC Disability Bias Charge

    Facility management company ABM agreed to pay $52,000 to a deaf job applicant who said their job offer for a warehouse cleaner position was put on ice after they asked for an accommodation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Monday.

  • August 19, 2024

    Staffing Cos. Can't Immediately Appeal EEOC Race Bias Case

    A Tennessee federal judge refused to give three staffing companies a green light to appeal her decision that they must face a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit claiming they favored Hispanic workers over Black ones.

  • August 19, 2024

    Boston Defeats Suit By Fired Police Commissioner

    A Boston police commissioner who was fired over decades-old abuse allegations had plenty of chances to give his side of the story, a Massachusetts federal court said Monday in rejecting claims he was defamed and stigmatized by the city's ex-mayor.

  • August 19, 2024

    Illinois AI Bias Law Shows States Zeroing In On Workplaces

    A new Illinois law upping the legal protections for job candidates and employees evaluated by artificial intelligence signals that workplaces will continue to be at the center of the state-led campaign to curb AI bias, experts said.

  • August 19, 2024

    Judge Urges Throwing Out DOJ's 'Simple' Race Bias Suit

    A federal judge recommended dismissing a U.S. Department of Justice suit accusing a Georgia county of firing two Black workers who complained about a slur from a white colleague, faulting the DOJ for trying to "overcomplicate" the case.

  • August 19, 2024

    Ex-NJ County Exec Loses Bid To DQ Firm In Retaliation Suit

    A former Cumberland County, New Jersey, health official claiming his firing was political retaliation cannot disqualify the county's counsel in his lawsuit, Testa Heck Testa & White PA, over interactions he had with two firm attorneys around the time of his firing, a state court judge ruled Friday.

  • August 19, 2024

    Security Co. Can't Toss Worker's Sex Harassment Suit

    A Maryland federal judge has declined to throw out the bulk of a woman's suit against a Baltimore utility and a security firm alleging that she was fired for ending a sexual relationship with her supervisor, only tossing her wrongful termination claim.

  • August 16, 2024

    NJ Agency Nixes City's 3rd Police Firing For Cannabis Use

    Another New Jersey police officer who was fired for off-duty marijuana use must be reinstated, a state commission has ordered, finding it doesn't matter that the officer failed to disclose reliance on cannabis for medical purposes before a screening or that the usage at issue was technically recreational.

  • August 16, 2024

    HP Moves Washington Pay Transparency Suit To US Court

    HP has joined the list of major companies to be hit with proposed class claims for allegedly failing to include pay ranges in job postings, in violation of Washington state wage disclosure laws, according to a lawsuit moved to Seattle federal court on Thursday.

  • August 16, 2024

    Ex-Twitter Workers Seek Conditional Cert. In Age Bias Suit

    Counsel for a former Twitter employee urged a California federal judge at a hearing Friday to conditionally certify a proposed age discrimination collective action on behalf of workers 50 and older who were fired after Elon Musk acquired the company, pointing to Musk's remarks as evidence of bias.

  • August 16, 2024

    Feds Get Boost From Dem Reps In 5th Circ. PWFA Fight

    The federal government's Fifth Circuit challenge to a court order blocking it from enforcing a law to protect pregnant workers in Texas got support on Friday from four Democratic lawmakers who argued the lower court ruling, if upheld, would undercut Congress' authority to set its own rules of operation.

  • August 16, 2024

    Agency Didn't Dupe Court In Worker's Suit, Mich. Panel Says

    A Michigan state appeals court refused to upend a Detroit housing agency's defeat of a former property manager's allegation that it fired him without using a progressive discipline system established by his collective bargaining agreement, saying the worker failed to show that his former employer purposely misled the court.

  • August 16, 2024

    Texas, Think Tank Say EEOC Misinterpreted Bostock

    Texas and a conservative D.C. think tank urged a federal court to scrap the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recently updated guidance on workplace harassment, arguing that the federal bias watchdog misinterpreted the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Bostock decision when crafting the guidelines.

  • August 16, 2024

    Off The Bench: WNBA Suit, Olympic Fallout, Swimming Ban

    In this week's Off The Bench, a WNBA star accuses her former team of discrimination for trading her once she became pregnant, questions swirl around the revocation of a U.S. gymnast's Olympic medal, and a BigLaw investigation prompts the University of Notre Dame to suspend its men's swimming program.

  • August 16, 2024

    EEOC Agrees To Pay Atty Fees For Doc Delays In COVID Suit

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agreed to pay a Colorado appliance company $1,800 in attorney fees for the agency's delays in turning over a worker's communications with her doctor in a disability bias suit. 

  • August 16, 2024

    UAW Defends Handling Of Grievance In Race Bias Lawsuit

    The United Auto Workers asked an Ohio federal judge to toss a Black member's claim that the union insufficiently fought his discharge from Howmet Aerospace Inc. because of his race, saying the worker failed to show the union unfairly handled the firing grievance.

  • August 16, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: Liberty Mutual $3M Deal Up For Approval

    In the coming week, attorneys should keep an eye out for potential final approval of a $3.125 million settlement in a wage and hour class action against Liberty Mutual. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters coming up in California.

  • August 16, 2024

    Jackson Lewis Brings On Litigators In Pittsburgh, Kansas City

    Employment firm Jackson Lewis PC has expanded its roster this week with the additions of two attorneys with combined experience of more than 30 years to its offices in the Western Pennsylvania and Kansas City areas.

  • August 16, 2024

    How The Plaintiffs Bar Is Getting Creative To Combat AI Bias

    The opacity of workplace artificial intelligence tools poses a daunting challenge for plaintiff-side employment lawyers who think that technology causes discriminatory results. Here are four strategies that workers' attorneys can use to get traction.

  • August 16, 2024

    1st Circ. Smooths Path For Title VII Retaliation Claims

    The First Circuit affirmed a lower court's grant of summary judgment for Bentley University in an employment discrimination lawsuit brought by a former program coordinator, but also took the opportunity to lower the bar for retaliation claims.

  • August 16, 2024

    Hog Farm Can't Dodge EEOC Transgender Harassment Suit

    A hog farm can't escape a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging it allowed a transgender worker to be harassed out of a job, the Illinois federal judge scolding the business Friday for attempting to delay the case by falsely asserting the complaint lacked detail.

  • August 16, 2024

    NY Forecast: 1st Hearing In Hotel Bid To End Union Deals

    A New York City hotel and hospitality workers' union are scheduled to appear before a New York federal judge for the first time as part of the hotel's lawsuit seeking to end ongoing agreements the union struck with a previous owner.

  • August 16, 2024

    New Jersey Litigation Highlights Of 2024: A Midyear Report

    A court's upheaval of New Jersey's longstanding "county line" ballot layout for the Democratic primary fueled both sides of the lively political aisle this year, while the same federal judge also riled the state's pharmaceutical hotbed by ending two challenges to Medicare's ability to negotiate drug prices. Here, Law360 looks at some of the notable cases so far in New Jersey.

  • August 15, 2024

    CBS, Writer To Resolve Bias Suit Via Summary Judgment

    A California federal judge refused to toss a freelance scriptwriter's lawsuit accusing CBS of repeatedly denying him a staff writer position for being a "white, heterosexual male," but said the suit could be resolved without a hearing.

Expert Analysis

  • One Contract Fix Can Reduce Employer Lawsuit Exposure

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    A recent Fifth Circuit ruling that saved FedEx over $365 million highlights how a one-sentence limitation provision on an employment application or in an at-will employment agreement may be the easiest cost-savings measure for employers against legal claims, say Sara O'Keefe and William Wortel at BCLP.

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

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    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Sick Leave Insights From 'Parks And Rec'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper spoke with Lisa Whittaker at the J.M. Smucker Co. about how to effectively manage sick leave policies to ensure legal compliance and fairness to all employees, in a discussion inspired by a "Parks and Recreation" episode.

  • Navigating Title VII Compliance And Litigation Post-Muldrow

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Muldrow v. St. Louis has broadened the scope of Title VII litigation, meaning employers must reassess their practices to ensure compliance across jurisdictions and conduct more detailed factual analyses to defend against claims effectively, say Robert Pepple and Christopher Stevens at Nixon Peabody.

  • Why Employers Shouldn't Overreact To Protest Activities

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    Recent decisions from the First Circuit in Kinzer v. Whole Foods and the National Labor Relations Board in Home Depot hold eye-opening takeaways about which employee conduct is protected as "protest activity" and make a case for fighting knee-jerk reactions that could result in costly legal proceedings, says Frank Shuster at Constangy.

  • Best Practices To Accommodate Workplace Service Animals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Since the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently pledged to enforce accommodations for people with intellectual, developmental and mental health-related disabilities, companies should use an interactive process to properly respond when employees ask about bringing service animals into the workplace, say Samuel Lillard and Jantzen Mace at Ogletree.

  • Kansas Workers' Comp. Updates Can Benefit Labor, Business

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    While the most significant shake-up from the April amendment to the Kansas Workers Compensation Act will likely be the increase in potential lifetime payouts for workers totally disabled on the job, other changes that streamline the hearing process will benefit both employees and companies, says Weston Mills at Gilson Daub.

  • Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape

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    Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.

  • Justices' Title VII Ruling Requires Greater Employer Vigilance

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Muldrow v. St. Louis ruling expands the types of employment decisions that can be challenged under Title VII, so employers will need to carefully review decisions that affect a term, condition or privilege of employment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 6th Circ. Bias Ruling Shows Job Evaluations Are Key Defense

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    In Wehrly v. Allstate, the Sixth Circuit recently declined to revive a terminated employee’s federal and state religious discrimination and retaliation claims, illustrating that an employer’s strongest defense in such cases is a documented employment evaluation history that justifies an adverse action, says Michael Luchsinger at Segal Mccambridge.

  • Navigating Harassment Complaints From Trans Employees

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in Copeland v. Georgia Department of Corrections, concerning the harassment of a transgender employee, should serve as a cautionary tale for employers, but there are steps that companies can take to create a more inclusive workplace and mitigate the risks of claims from transgender and nonbinary employees, say Patricia Konopka and Ann Thomas at Stinson.

  • Employer Considerations Before Title IX Rule Goes Into Effect

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    While the U.S. Department of Education's final rule on Title IX is currently published as an unofficial version, institutions and counsel should take immediate action to ensure they are prepared for the new requirements, including protections for LGBTQ+ and pregnant students and employees, before it takes effect in August, say Jeffrey Weimer and Cori Smith at Reed Smith.

  • 5 Employer Actions Now Risky After Justices' Title VII Ruling

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    Last week in Muldrow v. St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that harm didn't have to be significant to be considered discriminatory under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, making five common employer actions vulnerable to litigation, say Kellee Kruse and Briana Scholar at The Employment Law Group.