Discrimination

  • April 15, 2025

    5 Questions Employers Should Ask Before Buying An AI Tool

    Not all artificial intelligence tools are created equal, and employers should be sure to ask a few crucial questions before buying AI tools for resume screening or other decision-making to get the most out of the technology and avoid violating antidiscrimination law, experts say. Here are five questions employers should ask before buying AI tools for the workplace.

  • April 14, 2025

    Susman Godfrey Asks To Block 'Unconstitutional' Order

    Susman Godfrey LLP on Monday asked a D.C. federal judge to immediately restrain the federal government from enforcing President Donald Trump's "unconstitutional" executive order revoking the firm's access to government resources, saying the directive is blatant retaliation for the firm's representation of clients and causes the president doesn't like.

  • April 14, 2025

    Worker Says Accenture's DEI Goals Cost Him His Job

    Accenture LLP refused to promote a male employee and eventually fired him in order to make room for less-qualified women in the name of gender parity, according to a sex discrimination suit the worker filed Monday in Illinois federal court.

  • April 14, 2025

    Akerman Calls Back Labor And Employment Atty As Partner

    Management-side firm Akerman LLP added a partner to its labor and employment practice group in Chicago who is returning to the firm after seven years and called going back "a homecoming."

  • April 14, 2025

    Musk's X Sued Over Wash. Worker Severance Pay, Bonuses

    About 150 former Twitter workers in Washington have sued X Corp., saying that since Elon Musk took over and slashed its workforce, the social media platform has illegally refused to engage in arbitration over claims from laid-off workers who say they have been stiffed on promised severance pay and bonuses.

  • April 14, 2025

    Tesla's Arbitration Win Upended In Ex-Exec's Defamation Case

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday said a lower court judge wrongly confirmed a zero-dollar arbitration award in favor of Tesla and Elon Musk that dismissed a former Tesla engineer's defamation claims, saying the federal court didn't have jurisdiction because no money was awarded.

  • April 14, 2025

    Quinn Emanuel, King & Spalding Rep Harvard In Trump Letter

    Harvard University on Monday turned to a pair of high-powered lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and King & Spalding LLP as the school pushed back on the Trump administration's policy demands linked to nearly $9 billion in federal funding — a move that prompted the government to freeze more than $2 billion in grants for the school.

  • April 14, 2025

    8th Circ. Says Wheelchair User Can't Revive Hiring Bias Suit

    The Eighth Circuit declined Monday to reinstate a job applicant's suit claiming an Arkansas school district hired a less-experienced candidate out of disability bias because he uses a wheelchair, ruling he failed to show the district's preference for an internal candidate was a cover-up for discrimination.

  • April 14, 2025

    NY AG Seeks Toss Of Seventh-Day Adventist's Bias Suit

    New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked a federal judge in Manhattan to toss a potential class action brought by a former state disability office employee against the state and her labor union claiming she was fired for demanding specific days off for religious observances.

  • April 14, 2025

    CWA, Verizon Dispute Fired White Worker's Race Bias Claims

    The Communications Workers of America and Verizon challenged a worker's suit alleging he was fired for using the N-word because he is white, with the union and company arguing that the CWA hadn't breached its duty of fair representation by not advancing a grievance over the firing to arbitration.

  • April 14, 2025

    Ex-GC's Retaliation Claim Survives Early Exit Bid In ADA Case

    A North Carolina federal judge has ruled that a former associate general counsel at a historically Black college in North Carolina can pursue a retaliation claim, but not a discrimination claim, in her Americans with Disabilities Act suit alleging she was fired after seeking accommodation for her disability.

  • April 14, 2025

    Post-COVID, Questions Linger On State Laws And Telework

    The Eighth Circuit recently declared that Minnesota's antidiscrimination law doesn't cover remote workers who don't have a physical presence in the state, taking a decisive stance on a tricky issue that experts said will continue bedeviling courts even now that the worldwide COVID-19 crisis has ended.

  • April 14, 2025

    Ex-Reed Smith Atty Gets Review Of NJ Bias Damages Limit

    The New Jersey state appeals court has said it will consider a former Reed Smith LLP labor and employment lawyer's appeal of a ruling that damages in her gender discrimination suit against the firm can only go as far back as the start date of a New Jersey equal pay law.

  • April 14, 2025

    Senior Facility Agrees To Resolve EEOC Pregnancy Bias Suit

    A Minnesota senior living facility operator will pay over $73,000 to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it micromanaged and harassed an employee because she didn't disclose her pregnancy before accepting a promotion, according to a federal court filing on Monday.

  • April 14, 2025

    Google Fired Workers For Pro-Palestine Views, Suit Says

    Staging a peaceful protest to denounce harassment of Muslim and Arab employees at Google and the tech giant's support of Israeli military operations got many workers at the company unlawfully fired, a proposed class action filed in California federal court said.

  • April 14, 2025

    EEOC Strikes Deals In Race Bias, Sex Harassment Suits

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently brokered deals in two separate suits — one accusing a New York City restaurant of standing by while a pastry cook was sexually harassed and another claiming a salt production company penalized and fired a Black worker for complaining about a white colleague's offensive comments.

  • April 14, 2025

    Judge Blocks $1.3M Deal In Background Checks Row

    A $1.3 million deal between workers and a logistics company they accused of not telling almost 30,000 job applicants they were undergoing background checks won't go forward because the children's charity that would receive unclaimed funds has no link to the workers, a California federal judge ruled.

  • April 14, 2025

    ABA Scholarship Illegally Bars White Applicants, Suit Says

    The American Bar Association unlawfully discriminates against white law students by excluding them from a scholarship program for racial and ethnic minorities, according to a federal lawsuit from a group founded by the conservative legal strategist who led a successful Supreme Court challenge to affirmative action in university admissions.

  • April 11, 2025

    Susman Godfrey Calls Trump Order 'Threat' To Rule Of Law

    Susman Godfrey LLP on Friday became the latest BigLaw firm targeted by President Donald Trump to hit back in D.C. federal court, saying his executive order revoking the firm's access to government resources needs to be shut down now before a "dangerous and perhaps irreversible precedent" is set.

  • April 11, 2025

    21 AGs Back WilmerHale, Jenner & Block Over Trump Order

    A coalition of 21 attorneys general Friday filed briefs in support of WilmerHale and Jenner & Block LLP as the firms challenge President Donald Trump's retaliatory executive orders in D.C. federal court, arguing that the directives unconstitutionally punish the firms for representing people and causes the president doesn't like.

  • April 11, 2025

    Pa. Bus Driver's Reinstatement Upheld In Harassment Case

    A Pennsylvania transit workers union can keep its win against a regional public transit operator over the firing of a bus driver accused of harassment, a state appellate court concluded Friday, finding that an arbitration award that changed the firing to a suspension drew its essence from the collective bargaining agreement.

  • April 11, 2025

    Dallas Jury Clears Omni Hotels Of Gender-Based Pay Bias

    A Dallas federal court jury on Friday cleared Omni Hotels Management Corp. of gender discrimination accusations in Omni's second go at defending against the suit before a jury, handing Omni a clean victory after the Fifth Circuit ordered a new trial.

  • April 11, 2025

    3 Things To Know As 2nd Circ. Clarifies NYC Marital Bias Law

    The Second Circuit's recent articulation that a New York City law barring discrimination based on marital status doesn't encompass who a person is married to lines up with recent state court precedent and may make it harder for some prospective plaintiffs to get marriage-related claims off the ground, experts say.

  • April 11, 2025

    Employment Lawyers' Weekly DEI Cheat Sheet

    Susman Godfrey LLP became the latest firm to sue President Donald Trump over an executive order aimed at its prior legal work and diversity, equity and inclusion practices, while five other firms–including Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP–reached accords with the Trump administration. Here, Law360 looks at notable DEI-related legal developments from the past week.

  • April 11, 2025

    Judge Says Ex-Prof Can't Thread Needle Of Tenure Bias Claim

    Mercer University defeated a yearslong lawsuit from a former professor who alleged she was denied a tenured position due to her gender, as a Georgia federal judge ruled that the professor was asking the court to become "a super personnel department tasked with looking over the shoulders of a decisionmaker."

Expert Analysis

  • Pa. Ruling Highlights Challenges Of Employer Arb. Appeals

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    A Pennsylvania federal court's recent ruling in Welch Foods v. General Teamsters Local Union No. 397 demonstrates the inherent difficulties employers face when seeking relief from labor arbitration decisions through appeals in court — and underscores how employers are faced with often conflicting legal priorities, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 7 Ways To Prepare For An I-9 Audit Or Immigration Raid

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    Because immigration enforcement is likely to surge under the upcoming Trump administration, employers should take steps to ensure their staff is trained in employment eligibility verification requirements and what to do in the event of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement I-9 audit or workplace raid, say attorneys at Littler.

  • California Supreme Court's Year In Review

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    Attorneys at Horvitz & Levy highlight notable decisions on major questions from the California Supreme Court's last term, including voter initiatives, hostile work environment and the economic loss rule.

  • Disentangling Various Forms Of Workplace Discrimination

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    Pay inequity can be missed where it exists and misidentified due to incorrect statistics, leaving individuals to face multiple facets of discrimination connected by a common root cause, meaning correct identification and measurement is crucial, says Daniel Levy at Advanced Analytical.

  • Key Requirements In New Maryland Pay Transparency Laws

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    Although several jurisdictions now require pay transparency in job advertisements, Maryland's new law is among the broadest in the country, both in terms of what is required and the scope of its applicability, says Sarah Belger at Quarles & Brady.

  • Lessons From EEOC Case Of Fla. Worker Fired After Stillbirth

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    A recent federal court settlement between a Florida resort and a fired line cook shows that the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission sees stillbirth as protected under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, also providing four other important lessons, says Gordon Berger at Pierson Ferdinand.

  • Advising Employers As AI Meets DEI And Discrimination

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Though companies can use artificial intelligence tools to develop more diverse and inclusive workforces, counsel should also prepare employers for how AI can stymie these efforts, provoke discrimination claims and complicate resulting litigation, says Emily Schifter at Troutman Pepper.

  • A Look At The Hefty Demands In Calif. Employer AI Draft Regs

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    California's draft regulations on artificial intelligence use in employment decisions show that the California Privacy Protection Agency is positioning itself as a de facto AI regulator for the state, which isn't waiting around for federal legislation, says Lily Li at Metaverse Law.

  • Federal Salary History Ban's Reach Is Limited

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    Though a newly effective Office of Personnel Management rule takes important steps by banning federal employers from considering job applicants' nonfederal salary histories, the rule's narrow applicability and overconfidence in the existing system's fairness will likely not end persistent pay inequities, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.

  • 2nd Circ. Hostile Workplace Ruling Widens Arbitration Pitfalls

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision, affirming the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act applies to a worker whose workplace hostility claims arose before the law’s 2022 enactment, widens the scope of the law — and the risks of unenforceable arbitration agreements for employers, say attorneys at Hinshaw.

  • Title VII Compliance Lessons From Raytheon Age Bias Suit

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    A Texas federal court’s recent refusal to dismiss age discrimination claims from a former Raytheon employee, terminated after he admitted to acts that Raytheon says violated its harassment policy, nonetheless illustrates strategies employers can use to protect themselves when facing competing Title VII workplace obligations, say attorneys at Segal McCambridge.

  • How The Presidential Election Will Affect Workplace AI Regs

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    The U.S. has so far adopted a light-handed approach to regulating artificial intelligence in the labor and employment area, but the presidential election is unlikely to have as dramatic of an effect on AI regulations as it may on other labor and employment matters, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Eye On Compliance: ADA Accommodations For Obesity

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    As the classification of "obesity" as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act continues to evolve, employers should note federal district and state court deviations from U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines, which have deemed obesity to be a qualifying impairment, no matter the cause, says Lauren Stadler at Wilson Elser.