Discrimination

  • September 26, 2024

    11th Circ. Signals Fired Coach's Claim Can't Ride On Her Team

    An 11th Circuit panel signaled Thursday that the disparate funding of men's and women's collegiate athletic programs was likely not enough to sustain a fired Georgia Tech basketball coach's Title VII claim of sex-based discrimination against the program.

  • September 26, 2024

    Automaker Accused Of Forcing Pregnant Worker To Take OT

    Off-road vehicle manufacturer Polaris forced a pregnant worker to resign when it wouldn't forgive her medical absences or excuse her from mandatory overtime, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in the latest suit of its wave of Pregnant Workers Fairness Act cases.

  • September 26, 2024

    Minn. YMCA Ignored Sexual Harassment, EEOC Says

    A YMCA in Minnesota looked the other way when a manager sexually harassed its workers — some of whom were teenagers — which forced one worker to quit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged.

  • September 26, 2024

    Amazon Worker Gets Trial In Military Leave Suit

    A Washington federal judge ejected one worker from a suit accusing Amazon of demoting or firing workers who took time off for military service, but teed up for trial another worker's claim alleging he was removed from consideration for a promotion after he said he was going to be deployed.

  • September 26, 2024

    Pizza Co. Unlawfully Fired Trans Worker, EEOC Says

    A Chicago pizza chain fired a Black transgender employee in violation of federal law after she complained that her co-workers and a customer had harassed her about her gender identity, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told an Illinois federal court

  • September 25, 2024

    Ex-Cognizant Worker Says Co. 'Mandate' Was To Hire Indians

    A former employee at Cognizant Technology testified Wednesday as a witness for a class of former employees alleging the company discriminates against non-Indian workers, and said he believes the company did not just have a preference for hiring workers from India through the H-1B visa program, but that it was "a mandate."

  • September 25, 2024

    4th Circ. Says Firefighter's Race Bias Deal Is Pension Eligible

    The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday found the city of Charlotte in North Carolina should have deducted retirement funds from a former Black firefighter's race bias settlement, but said the same could not be true for another firefighter who never finalized a deal with the city.

  • September 25, 2024

    Lookback Window Claims Cut From Disney Sex Abuse Suit

    A California state court on Wednesday trimmed down a Walt Disney Co. employee's sexual assault lawsuit against the entertainment giant and one of its former longtime executives, holding that the case was filed after the state's one-year lookback window for sex abuse claims had expired.

  • September 25, 2024

    DOL Subminimum Wage Program Should Go, Experts Say

    The federal program allowing employers to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities needs to be eliminated in a way that respects these workers' rights and avoids turmoil for them, experts say, one year after the U.S. Department of Labor began reexamining the program.

  • September 25, 2024

    Ascension Must Face Additional Suit Over Vaccine Mandate

    Ascension Health Alliance must face another proposed class action challenging its 2021 COVID-19 vaccination policy, an Indiana federal judge ruled Wednesday, holding that a group of workers who were suspended or fired after refusing the vaccine on religious grounds have a case against the Catholic healthcare system.

  • September 25, 2024

    Ex-IATSE Officer Fights Discipline After Raising Porn Issue

    A former officer for an International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees local in New Mexico accused the union of wrongly disciplining him after he spoke up with concerns about the name of another officer appearing on porn websites through an online search.

  • September 25, 2024

    Mass. Police Officers Sue Over Cost Of Prep For Biased Exam

    A group of Massachusetts police officers say they should be reimbursed for the costs of preparing for 2022 promotional exams that were administered in the midst of a trial where similar tests were ultimately found to be biased against Black and Hispanic officers.

  • September 25, 2024

    NFL's Race Bias Arbitrator Is Not Impartial, Ex-Coach Argues

    The attorneys for former NFL head coach Brian Flores have warned the Second Circuit, which is hearing the league's appeal of a lower court decision keeping part of his proposed racial discrimination class action in federal court, that the NFL's choice of an arbitrator for the rest of his dispute is "an attempt to falsely create an appearance of impartiality."

  • September 25, 2024

    Nexstar Must Face Journalists' Pride Memo Defamation Suits

    Nexstar Media Group can't shake defamation lawsuits filed by two television news station managers who were fired after they disseminated an internal memo telling reporters to be balanced in their Pride Month coverage, a Michigan federal judge has ruled.

  • September 25, 2024

    Urology Practice Accused Of Denying Pregnant Worker Breaks

    An Oklahoma urology practice forced a pregnant medical assistant to take unpaid leave after refusing to let her sit during work or take breaks to relieve swelling and pain, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged Wednesday in its second federal lawsuit under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

  • September 25, 2024

    Sports Bar Chain Denied Male Servers Jobs, EEOC Suit Says

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged Wednesday that a Southern sports bar chain refused to hire men for its front-of-house positions, such as server or bartender jobs, a move that violated civil rights laws by denying employment based on gender.

  • September 25, 2024

    Car Dealer Admitted It Won't Hire Women In Sales, Suit Says

    A woman who applied to work for a Duluth, Georgia, car dealership is suing the company for discrimination, claiming it hired a less qualified man after a sales manager had told her it stopped hiring women as salespeople after a woman working in that role sued it for sexual harassment.

  • September 25, 2024

    DOL, DOT Call On Rail Cos. To Offer Paid Sick Leave

    The U.S. departments of Labor and Transportation in a letter Wednesday called on three major freight railroad companies to guarantee paid sick leave to all of their employees.

  • September 25, 2024

    Jones Day Must Face Ex-Firm Attys' Parental Leave Suit

    Jones Day will have to defend its parental leave policy at trial, after a D.C. federal judge declined on Wednesday to shut down a long-running suit filed by two married ex-associates that claims the firm discriminates by offering female attorneys more leave than male attorneys.

  • September 25, 2024

    Ogletree Lands Seyfarth Employment Atty In Chicago

    Labor and employment firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC has grown its Chicago office with the addition of a Seyfarth Shaw LLP partner.

  • September 25, 2024

    Ex-American Airlines Pilot Cleared In Sex Assault Trial

    A California federal jury on Wednesday cleared a former American Airlines pilot of liability in a civil lawsuit alleging he sexually assaulted two flight attendants at a hotel during a round-trip journey between Los Angeles and São Paulo, Brazil.

  • September 25, 2024

    Cargo Airline Strikes $84K Deal To End DOL Equal Pay Probe

    A cargo airline has agreed to pay female workers more than $84,000 in back wages and interest to resolve a U.S. Department of Labor investigation alleging it paid them less than their male counterparts, the federal agency announced.

  • September 25, 2024

    Produce Co. Can't Revise Settlement With EEOC, Judge Says

    A produce supplier will pay $40,000 to close a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging it failed to stop the sexual harassment of a female employee, as a Michigan federal judge approved the deal and adopted a report rejecting the company's bid to revise the agreement.

  • September 24, 2024

    Chance Cognizant Didn't Discriminate Is '1 In A Billion,' Jury Told

    An attorney for a class of former Cognizant Technology employees alleging the company discriminated against non-South Asian and non-Indian employees told a jury during opening statements of a retrial Tuesday that the probability Cognizant's behavior wasn't racially biased is about one in a billion.

  • September 24, 2024

    Ex-Employee Sues Ga. Boiler Co., Alleging Retaliation

    A Black former employee of Combustion and Controls LLC sued the boiler company in Georgia federal court Tuesday, claiming he was treated worse than white co-workers, racially insulted, threatened with violence and ultimately fired after reporting the hostility.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Where Anti-Discrimination Law Stands 4 Years After Bostock

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    On the fourth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Bostock ruling, Evan Parness and Abby Rickeman at Covington take stock of how the decision, which held that Title VII protects employees from discrimination because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, has affected anti-discrimination law at the state and federal levels.

  • Politics In The Workplace: What Employers Need To Know

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    As the 2024 election approaches and protests continue across the country, employers should be aware of employees' rights — and limits on those rights — related to political speech and activities in the workplace, and be prepared to act proactively to prevent issues before they arise, say attorneys at Littler.

  • What High Court Ruling Means For Sexual Harassment Claims

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    In its recent Smith v. Spizzirri decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a district court compelling a case to arbitration is obligated to stay the case rather than dismissing it, but this requirement may result in sexual harassment cases not being heard by appellate courts, says Abe Melamed at Signature Resolution.

  • 5 Steps For Gov't Contractor Affirmative Action Verification

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    As the federal contractor affirmative action program certification deadline approaches, government contractors and subcontractors should take steps to determine their program obligations, and ensure any required plans are properly implemented and timely registered, say Christopher Wilkinson at Perkins Coie and Joanna Colosimo at DCI Consulting.

  • New OSHA Memo Helps Clarify Recordkeeping Compliance

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    Based on recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidance on whether musculoskeletal disorders are recordable injuries under the agency's recordkeeping regulation, it appears that OSHA may target active release techniques and stretching programs during its inspections, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Cos. Must Stay On Alert With Joint Employer Rule In Flux

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    While employers may breathe a sigh of relief at recent events blocking the National Labor Relations Board's proposed rule that would make it easier for two entities to be deemed joint employers, the rule is not yet dead, say attorneys at ​​​​​​​Day Pitney.