Discrimination

  • July 22, 2024

    Ex-DuPont Workers Settle Age Bias Suit Ahead Of Trial

    DuPont has reached a settlement to avoid trial with two former employees who alleged they were fired and replaced by younger workers after a rigged investigation into allegedly hazardous workplace behavior.

  • July 19, 2024

    4 Lessons As 7th Circ. OKs Honeywell Firing Of DEI Protester

    The Seventh Circuit recently held that Honeywell legally fired a white employee who opposed and then skipped mandatory training that was part of the company's diversity, equity and inclusion program, a ruling that employer-side attorneys say provides valuable insight into how companies should handle objectors. Here, Law360 looks at four lessons that can be gleaned from the appellate court's opinion.

  • July 19, 2024

    9th Circ. Calls Out Wash. AG's Paradox In Christian Charity Suit

    Ninth Circuit judges said Friday that Washington state "wants it both ways" in a Christian nonprofit's case over an antidiscrimination law, with the attorney general arguing that there's no credible enforcement threat to substantiate the suit's filing while also stopping short of pledging that the state won't pursue a case against the organization.

  • July 19, 2024

    3rd Circ. Reverses Court on 90-Day EEOC Clock Ruling

    The Third Circuit has revived a New Jersey state employee's sex harassment lawsuit against her employer, finding that a lower court incorrectly calculated when the 90-day clock for her to file suit started after her attorney learned the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would not pursue her claim.

  • July 19, 2024

    NFL Antitrust Verdict, WWE Chair Woes Define 2024's 1st Half

    The first half of 2024 saw bombshell allegations and yearslong litigation lurching forward, highlighted by the shocking lawsuit accusing the founder of WWE of horrific sexual conduct, an iconic magazine almost shuttering and two NFL cases reaching significant milestones.

  • July 19, 2024

    US Chess Tolerates Human Trafficking, Champion Claims

    The U.S. Chess Federation provides an arena for human trafficking and retaliated against a whistleblower who reported alleged sexual abuse, a two-time national champion claims in a lawsuit filed in New Jersey state court.

  • July 19, 2024

    Law Profs Throw Flag On NFL's 'Unconscionable' Arbitration

    Allowing the NFL's arbitration system, with commissioner Roger Goodell as the arbitrator, to prevail in Brian Flores' discrimination dispute with the league is "unconscionable" and "egregious," a dozen law professors have told the Second Circuit in an amicus brief supporting the former Miami Dolphins head coach.

  • July 19, 2024

    Hanes Fired Remote Worker Over COVID Vax Refusal, Suit Says

    A former Hanes employee brought a discrimination suit against the clothing company Friday, claiming he was fired after the employer refused to provide religious accommodations regarding its COVID-19 vaccine mandate despite his work-from-home status.

  • July 19, 2024

    Atlanta Strikes Deal To End Ex-Worker's Retaliation Suit

    The city of Atlanta has reached a deal with its former immigrant affairs director to resolve her lawsuit alleging she was fired after blowing the whistle on failures in the city's immigrant outreach services, according to a filing in Georgia federal court.

  • July 19, 2024

    EEOC, Walmart Ink $75K Deal To End ADA Suit

    Walmart will pay $75,000 to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging the retail giant fired a distribution center worker because she couldn't get a doctor's approval to work without restrictions, according to a filing Friday in North Carolina federal court.

  • July 19, 2024

    6th Circ. Rejects Teacher's Bid To Revive Retaliation Suit

    The Sixth Circuit refused to reopen a substitute teacher's lawsuit alleging a Tennessee school district placed her under undue scrutiny because she complained about age discrimination, saying she failed to show administrators knew about her U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges.

  • July 19, 2024

    Ex-Bronco Linebacker Sues NFL Over Denied THC Exemption

    A former linebacker for the Denver Broncos is suing the team and the National Football League, alleging they're violating the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act by denying him an exemption to use synthetic THC to treat his disabilities.

  • July 19, 2024

    Contractor, EEOC Settle Trans Worker Harassment Probe

    A California-based contractor that works on sprinkler systems reached a deal to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation that found reasonable cause to believe the employer caused a transgender worker to quit by allowing him to be verbally and physically harassed.

  • July 19, 2024

    Amazon Fired Worker On Maternity Leave, Bias Suit Says

    An Amazon warehouse worker said the company violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act by firing her two days before she was to return from maternity leave after she requested an extension based on her doctor's recommendation, according to her suit filed in Illinois federal court.

  • July 19, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: $5M Nurses Wage Deal Up For Approval

    In the coming week, attorneys should keep an eye out for the potential final approval of a $5 million deal to end a class action against a nurse staffing agency. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters coming up in California.

  • July 19, 2024

    DC Denied Sanctions Over Late Discovery In Age Bias Suit

    A federal court rejected the District of Columbia's request that it punish a city employee for overdue responses to discovery requests made in her suit alleging she was sidelined because she's over 50, saying the city hadn't taken the proper steps before asking for the court's assistance.

  • July 19, 2024

    Rising Star: Jackson Lewis' Douglas J. Klein

    Douglas J. Klein of Jackson Lewis PC has defended employers against class and collective actions, including federal court cases involving a "naked" class waiver at Insomnia Cookies and wage-and-hour claims against New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, earning him a spot among employment law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • July 19, 2024

    NY Forecast: NLRB Injunction Bid Against Starbucks Resumes

    A status conference is scheduled this week in the National Labor Relations Board's recently revived suit seeking an injunction barring Starbucks from violating federal labor law at stores across the country.

  • July 18, 2024

    Insults Fly As Attys Beef Over Ex-NFL Player's Sex Abuse Suit

    Attorneys for an ex-NFL player and the former controller for his reptile shipping company accused each other of stonewalling, dishonesty and running up litigation costs at a hearing Thursday, where a Colorado state judge largely ignored the lawyers' "speeches" and urged them to confer more meaningfully.

  • July 18, 2024

    Florida Urges 11th Circ. To Allow Gender Law Despite Appeal

    Florida officials have urged the Eleventh Circuit to immediately allow enforcement of a law restricting gender-affirming treatment for transgender minors and adults despite an appeal, saying that a lower court wrongly determined the law was discriminatory and that patients will be harmed if "life-altering" medical procedures are not outlawed.

  • July 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Fired Doctor's COVID Vax Religious Bias Suit

    The Ninth Circuit revived a doctor's claims that Washington State University failed to accommodate his religious beliefs when it fired him from his residency for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, ruling Thursday that U.S. Supreme Court precedent necessitates another look at his case.

  • July 18, 2024

    Ex-Seattle Port Police Chief Seeks Up To $20M In Firing Trial

    The Port of Seattle's former police chief told a Washington state jury on Thursday that $14 million to $20 million from his former employer would be a "reasonable range" of damages for robbing him of his law enforcement career as punishment for complaining about unfairness in workplace misconduct investigations.

  • July 18, 2024

    Nurse Fired For Refusing Transgender Surgery, Bias Suit Says

    A traveling nurse was illegally fired from her post with a healthcare system, and then subsequently blacklisted from future positions, after she refused to assist on a gender-affirming surgery because it contradicted her Christian beliefs, according to a Texas federal court suit.

  • July 18, 2024

    Ga. County Escapes Jailer Discrimination Suit

    Troup County, Georgia, beat a retaliation and discrimination suit lodged by a former jail officer who had accused the county of allowing a chief deputy sheriff to allude to her being owned by someone in a slavery reference, according to a finding in federal court Wednesday.

  • July 18, 2024

    6th Circ. Is No Help To CSX Worker Fired For Train Death Post

    The Sixth Circuit ruled Thursday that a former CSX Transporation Inc. engineer waited too long to try to revive his wrongful termination suit stemming from his firing over an online post he made about a fatal train accident.  

Expert Analysis

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: July Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers cases touching on pre- and post-conviction detainment conditions, communications with class representatives, when the American Pipe tolling doctrine stops applying to modified classes, and more.

  • How To Comply With Chicago's New Paid Leave Ordinance

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    Chicago's new Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance went into effect earlier this month, so employers subject to the new rules should update leave policies, train supervisors and deliver notice as they seek compliance, say Alison Crane and Sarah Gasperini at Jackson Lewis.

  • Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State

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    Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.

  • A Timeline Of Antisemitism Legislation And What It Means

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    What began as hearings in the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce has expanded to a House-wide effort to combat antisemitism and related issues, with wide-ranging implications for education, finance and nonprofit entities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Colo. Ruling Adopts 'Actual Discharge' Test For The First Time

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    After a Colorado court’s recent decision in Potts v. Gaia Children, adopting for the first time a test for evaluating an actual discharge claim, employers must diligently document the circumstances surrounding termination of employment, and exercise particular caution when texting employees, says Michael Laszlo at Clark Hill.

  • It's Time For Nationwide Race-Based Hair Protections

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    While 24 states have passed laws that prohibit race-based hair discrimination, this type of bias persists in workplaces and schools, so a robust federal law is necessary to ensure widespread protection, says Samone Ijoma and Erica Roberts at Sanford Heisler.

  • After Chevron: EEOC Status Quo Will Likely Continue

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    As the legal landscape adjusts to the end of Chevron deference, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s rulemaking authority isn’t likely to shift as much as some other employment-related agencies, says Paige Lyle at FordHarrison.

  • After Chevron: Various Paths For Labor And Employment Law

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    Labor and employment law leans heavily on federal agency guidance, so the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to toss out Chevron deference will ripple through this area, with future workplace policies possibly taking shape through strategic litigation, informal guidance, state-level regulation and more, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.

  • FIFA Maternity Policy Shows Need For Federal Paid Leave

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    While FIFA and other employers taking steps to provide paid parental leave should be applauded, the U.S. deserves a red card for being the only rich nation in the world that offers no such leave, says Dacey Romberg at Sanford Heisler.

  • What 2 Rulings On Standing Mean For DEI Litigation

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    Recent federal court decisions in the Fearless Fund and Hello Alice cases shed new light on the ongoing wave of challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, with opposite conclusions on whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Eye On Compliance: A Brief History Of Joint Employer Rules

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    It's important to examine the journey of the joint employer rule, because if the National Labor Relations Board's Fifth Circuit appeal is successful and the 2023 version is made law, virtually every employer who contracts for labor likely could be deemed a joint employer, say Bruno Katz and Robert Curtis at Wilson Elser.

  • Top 5 Issues For Employers To Audit Midyear

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    Six months into 2024, developments from federal courts and regulatory agencies should prompt employers to reflect on their progress regarding artificial intelligence, noncompetes, diversity initiatives, religious accommodation and more, say Allegra Lawrence-Hardy and Lisa Haldar at Lawrence & Bundy.

  • Tailoring Compliance Before AI Walks The Runway

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    Fashion industry players that adopt artificial intelligence to propel their businesses forward should consider ways to minimize its perceived downsides, including potential job displacements and algorithmic biases that may harm diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, say Jeffrey Greene and Ivory Djahouri at Foley & Lardner.