Discrimination

  • May 12, 2025

    Law Students Say Trump Orders Imperil Their Future Careers

    More than 1,000 law students voiced support for Jenner & Block's bid to invalidate an executive order targeting the firm, arguing Monday that the Trump administration's directive threatens to compromise the legal profession and derail their careers before they can begin.

  • May 12, 2025

    BigLaw Student Fellowship Faces Discrimination Charge

    A new legal advocacy organization alleged that a decades-old program that partners with dozens of BigLaw firms to support incoming law students is racially discriminatory.

  • May 12, 2025

    Will Justices Finally Rein In Universal Injunctions?

    The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to address for the first time Thursday the propriety of universal injunctions, a tool federal judges have increasingly used to broadly halt presidential orders and policy initiatives, and whose validity has haunted the high court's merits and emergency dockets for more than a decade.

  • May 12, 2025

    Mass. Jail Employee Says Sexist Colleagues Undermined Her

    A former program manager at a Massachusetts jail has alleged in state court she was repeatedly undermined by a group of male colleagues, then effectively demoted from her role as assistant superintendent in retaliation for complaining.

  • May 12, 2025

    Queens College Purged Jewish Adjunct Faculty, Suit Says

    Queens College unlawfully pushed out six accounting professors under the guise of budgetary concerns and low enrollment in an effort to "clean house" and rid the department of Jewish employees, a former faculty member claimed in New York federal court.

  • May 12, 2025

    BB&K Litigator Joins Jackson Lewis In San Diego

    Employment law firm Jackson Lewis PC is growing its West Coast ranks, bringing in a Best Best & Krieger LLP litigator as a principal in its San Diego office.

  • May 09, 2025

    Ga. Auto Dealer Accused Of Race Bias By Ex-Workers

    A Georgia automobile dealership operator has been sued in Georgia federal court by six Black former employees who allege they were discriminated against because of their race, then were fired for reporting the alleged mistreatment.

  • May 09, 2025

    Wells Fargo Execs Sued In Del. Over 'Sham' Diversity Efforts

    A Wells Fargo stockholder launched a derivative suit on Friday in Delaware's Court of Chancery seeking damages from 17 of the banking giant's directors and officers for potentially billions in costs tied to alleged "sham" diversity-focused recruitment and hiring initiatives.

  • May 09, 2025

    Employment Lawyers' Weekly DEI Cheat Sheet

    A D.C. federal judge appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s claim that Susman Godfrey LLP violated anti-discrimination law, a Massachusetts federal judge ordered the government to define what it means by “diversity, equity and inclusion” and a new member was nominated to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Here, Law360 looks at notable DEI-related legal developments over the past week.

  • May 09, 2025

    4th Circ. Won't Loosen Charge Requirement In Race Bias Case

    The Fourth Circuit backed Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. on Friday in a Black billing contractor's lawsuit claiming he was fired for complaining he was let go for complaining about race bias, saying he hadn't properly named the utility company in his pre-suit discrimination charge.

  • May 09, 2025

    NY Forecast: X Arbitration Fees Dispute At 2nd Circ.

    This week, the Second Circuit will consider social media platform X's attempt to reverse a lower court order requiring it to pay fees for arbitration proceedings with employees who claim they were not paid the full amount of severance they were owed. Here, Law360 looks at this and other cases on the docket in New York.

  • May 09, 2025

    Disney Nears Prelim Approval On $43M Gender Pay Bias Deal

    A California judge said Friday he intends to grant preliminary approval of a $43.25 million class action settlement in a suit alleging Disney paid thousands of women in middle management less than their male colleagues.

  • May 09, 2025

    8th Circ. Won't Reopen IRS Employee's Promotion Bias Suit

    The Eighth Circuit refused Friday to revive an IRS special agent's lawsuit claiming she was denied a promotion because she's a Black woman in her 50s, saying she hadn't demonstrated the agency's decision not to move her up in its ranks was tainted by bias.

  • May 09, 2025

    NY Lawmakers Seek To Close Salary History Loophole

    A New York proposal to bar employers from asking job candidates about their salary expectations shows how states must keep refining and innovating pay disclosure laws as they learn lessons from real-world compliance.

  • May 09, 2025

    Souter's Clerks Remember Him As Humble, Kind And Caring

    Former clerks of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter are heartbroken over the death of a man many of them remember more for his conscientiousness, humility, kindness and disdain for the spotlight than for his undeniable brilliance as a jurist.

  • May 09, 2025

    AG Fights Ex-Immigration Judge's Disability Bias Claim In Fla.

    U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi pushed back Friday on a former immigration judge's bid for a disability discrimination ruling in her favor, telling a Florida federal court that her requested transfer wasn't approved since there were no vacancies in her desired Orlando court during her tenure.

  • May 09, 2025

    Hiker And 'Raconteur': Atty Recalls 50-Year Bond With Souter

    Behind a towering legal legacy was a man who loved to hike mountains, could recall details of things he read decades ago and was always there for those he cared about, a New Hampshire attorney said as he reflected on a lifelong friendship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

  • May 09, 2025

    EEOC Can Seek OK Of Deal That Judge Threatened To Scuttle

    A Florida federal judge walked back a threat Friday to toss a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission race harassment suit after taking issue with its bid to approve a $1.4 million settlement in the case, following warnings from the agency that it would be "severely prejudiced" by dismissal.

  • May 09, 2025

    Fisher Phillips Opens Tokyo Office Amid Regulatory Shifts

    Employer-side labor law firm Fisher Phillips has launched a Tokyo office in response to increasing client demand from American and multinational companies doing business in Japan and from Japanese companies doing business in the Americas.

  • May 09, 2025

    A Look At David Souter's Most Significant Opinions

    The retired Justice David Souter defied simple definition, viewed as a staunch conservative until he co-wrote an opinion upholding abortion rights in 1992. He did not hew to partisan lines, but reshaped the civil litigation landscape and took an unexpected stand in an extraordinarily close presidential election.

  • May 09, 2025

    Calif. Forecast: Petroleum Cos. $7M Wage Deal Before Court

    In the coming week, attorneys should watch for the potential initial approval of a $7.2 million deal in a proposed wage and hour class action against Marathon Refining Logistics Services and related companies. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • May 09, 2025

    Justice Souter Was An Unexpected Force Of Moderation

    Justice David Souter, who saw the high court as a moderating force apart from the messiness of politics, subverted the expectations of liberals and conservatives alike during his 19 years on the bench.

  • May 09, 2025

    Google Strikes $50M Deal To End Black Workers' Bias Suit

    Google has agreed to pay $50 million to resolve a proposed class action claiming the technology giant paid thousands of Black workers less than their white colleagues and provided them scant opportunities for advancement, according to a filing in California federal court.

  • May 09, 2025

    Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter Dies At 85

    Retired Justice David H. Souter, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 to 2009, has died at 85, the court announced Friday. 

  • May 08, 2025

    5th Circ. Wipes Out Southwest Attys' Religious Training Order

    The Fifth Circuit on Thursday held that a lower court overstepped by ordering several in-house Southwest Airlines attorneys to undergo "religious liberty training" following a flight attendant's win in a wrongful termination suit, finding that the training wouldn't benefit the flight attendant or persuade Southwest to comply with an earlier order.

Expert Analysis

  • Inside OMB's Update On Race And Ethnicity Data Collection

    Author Photo

    The Office of Management and Budget's new guidelines for agency collection of data on race and ethnicity reflect societal changes and the concerns of certain demographics, but implementation may be significantly burdensome for agencies and employers, say Joanna Colosimo and Bill Osterndorf at DCI Consulting.

  • New Wash. Laws Employers Should Pay Attention To

    Author Photo

    The Washington Legislature ended its session last month after passing substantial laws that should prompt employers to spring into action — including a broadened equal pay law to cover classes beyond gender, narrowed sick leave payment requirements for construction workers and protections for grocery workers after a merger, say Hannah Ard and Alayna Piwonski at Lane Powell.

  • The Shifting Landscape Of Physician Disciplinary Proceedings

    Author Photo

    Though hospitals have historically been able to terminate doctors' medical staff privileges without fear of court interference, recent case law has demonstrated that the tides are turning, especially when there is evidence of unlawful motivations, say Dylan Newton and Michael Horn at Archer & Greiner.

  • Anti-DEI Complaints Filed With EEOC Carry No Legal Weight

    Author Photo

    Recently filed complaints against several companies' diversity, equity and inclusion programs alleging unlawful discrimination against white people do not require a response from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and should not stop employers from rooting out ongoing discriminatory practices, says former EEOC general counsel David Lopez.

  • How DEI Programs Are Being Challenged In Court And Beyond

    Author Photo

    In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmative action decision last year declaring the consideration of race in university admissions unconstitutional, employers should keep abreast of recent litigation challenging diversity, equity and inclusion training programs, as well as legislation both supporting and opposing DEI initiatives in the workplace, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • What Minority Biz Law Ruling Could Mean For Private DEI

    Author Photo

    A Texas federal court’s recent decision to strike down key provisions of the Minority Business Development Act illustrates the wide-reaching effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision across legal contexts, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Texas Hair Bias Ruling Does Not Give Employers A Pass

    Author Photo

    A Texas state court’s recent decision, holding that a school could discipline a student with locs for refusing to cut his hair, should not be interpreted by employers as a license to implement potentially discriminatory grooming policies, says Dawn Holiday at Jackson Walker.

  • Broadway Ruling Puts Discrimination Claims In The Limelight

    Author Photo

    A New York federal court's recent decision in Moore v. Hadestown Broadway that the employers' choice to replace a Black actor with a white actor was shielded by the First Amendment is the latest in a handful of rulings zealously protecting hiring decisions in casting, say Anthony Oncidi and Dixie Morrison at Proskauer.

  • Breaking Down California's New Workplace Violence Law

    Author Photo

    Ilana Morady and Patrick Joyce at Seyfarth discuss several aspects of a new California law that requires employers to create and implement workplace violence prevention plans, including who is covered and the recordkeeping and training requirements that must be in place before the law goes into effect on July 1.

  • Studying NY, NJ Case Law On Employee Social Media Rights

    Author Photo

    While a New Jersey state appeals court has twice determined that an employee's termination by a private employer for social media posts is not prohibited, New York has yet to take a stand on the issue — so employers' decisions on such matters still need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, say Julie Levinson Werner and Jessica Kriegsfeld at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Eye On Compliance: Employee Social Media Privacy In NY

    Author Photo

    A New York law that recently took effect restricts employers' ability to access the personal social media accounts of employees and job applicants, signifying an increasing awareness of the need to balance employers' interests with worker privacy and free speech rights, says Madjeen Garcon-Bonneau at Wilson Elser.

  • Draft Pay Equity Rule May Pose Contractor Compliance Snags

    Author Photo

    The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council's recently proposed rule that would prohibit government contractors from requesting certain job applicants' salary history seems simple on the surface, but achieving compliance will be a nuanced affair for many contractors who must also adhere to state and local pay transparency laws, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • What Texas Employers Should Know After PWFA Ruling

    Author Photo

    After a Texas federal judge recently enjoined federal agencies from enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act against the state of Texas, all employers must still remain sensitive to local, state and federal protections for pregnant workers, and proactive in their approach to pregnancy-related accommodations, says Maritza Sanchez at Phelps Dunbar.