Discrimination

  • November 17, 2025

    NY Jets Can't Force Fired Executive's Suit To Arbitration

    The New York Jets can't force a former finance executive to arbitrate her lawsuit alleging she was fired because her husband accused the team president of sexual harassment, a New Jersey state court ruled, saying her "convoluted" nondisclosure agreement doesn't unequivocally require handling retaliation claims out of court.

  • November 17, 2025

    9th Circ. Strikes Down Trans Patients' Win In ACA Bias Case

    The Ninth Circuit upended a win Monday for patients who challenged Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois' administration of their employer-provided health plans containing gender-affirming care exclusions, ordering a lower court to reexamine the case in light of intervening authority from the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • November 17, 2025

    Corporate Pilot Fired For Flagging Safety Concerns, Suit Says

    The former head of aviation for an oral surgery management services company in North Carolina says he was canned because of his age and hearing disability and for allegedly reporting flight scheduling practices that he said flouted federal safety laws.

  • November 17, 2025

    Tesla Wins Bid To Unwind Class In Race Harassment Suit

    A California judge said a class of thousands of Black workers should be disbanded in a suit alleging rampant racist harassment at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, after the workers' lawyers faced difficulty in securing witness testimony and asked the court for a new trial plan. 

  • November 17, 2025

    Justices Won't Review Ex-Examiner's Patent Bar Rejection

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a former patent examiner's petition, which alleged that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office wrongly rejected his request to practice before the agency based on a suspension he argued was improper.

  • November 17, 2025

    High Court Turns Away Ex-Atlanta Atty's Sex Harassment Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review a case from a former Atlanta city attorney who said the justices' 2024 Muldrow decision meant she should get another shot at sexual harassment claims against the city and the prominent civil rights lawyer she worked for.

  • November 14, 2025

    Pa. Firm Can't Sink ADA Suit From Former Legal Assistant

    A former legal assistant for Pennsylvania-based collection firm Tsarouhis Law Group can move ahead with her Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit alleging the firm's refusal to accommodate her anxiety caused her to lose her job there after just about a week.

  • November 14, 2025

    Wash. County Fights Limits On Immigrants Working At Jails

    Washington's King County is challenging what it calls a "quirk" in Washington state law that unconstitutionally prohibits "lawfully present, work-authorized immigrants" from serving as corrections officers for local governments — though they can work in corrections at the state level.

  • November 14, 2025

    9th Circ. Judge Rips Feds For 'Trying To Suppress Speech'

    A Ninth Circuit panel expressed doubts Friday about the Trump administration's request to reconsider an order reinstating billions of dollars in University of California research grants in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, with one judge objecting that "the government is trying to suppress, to penalize speech."

  • November 14, 2025

    5th Circ. Says UPS Driver's Harassment Suit Needs 2nd Look

    The Fifth Circuit kicked a Black ex-UPS worker's harassment suit back to the lower court Friday, saying the judge needed to provide a more thorough explanation about why the delivery driver's claims that her manager called her an "angry black female" didn't pass muster.

  • November 14, 2025

    Ex-Va. City Atty Tells 4th Circ. FMLA Doesn't Immunize Officials

    The Family and Medical Leave Act doesn't contemplate qualified immunity, a former Virginia city assistant attorney told the Fourth Circuit on Thursday, arguing that a municipal attorney cannot appeal a federal court's decision to let his FMLA suit go to trial.

  • November 14, 2025

    10th Circ. Sides With Rehab Facility In Bias, Retaliation Suit

    The Tenth Circuit refused Friday to reopen an occupational therapist's lawsuit claiming she was unceremoniously let go by a Kansas rehabilitation clinic for reporting a colleague's inappropriate behavior toward women, saying she couldn't revive her suit using arguments the trial court never considered.

  • November 14, 2025

    Vaccine Suit Plaintiffs Say Disbarred Atty Is Doing Legal Work

    Fired city workers suing Ann Arbor for not granting them religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate have told a Michigan federal judge that the discovery master appointed in the case has offloaded the majority of her work to a disbarred attorney the plaintiffs say is improperly doing legal work as a paralegal.

  • November 14, 2025

    MVP: Gibson Dunn's Jason Schwartz

    Jason C. Schwartz, co-chair of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP's labor and employment practice, convinced Maryland's Supreme Court to create new case law in favor of his client Amazon clarifying the state's wage and hour statutes, earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Employment MVPs.

  • November 14, 2025

    Northern NY US Atty To Defend DOJ In Maurene Comey Suit

    The U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of New York has agreed to defend the U.S. Department of Justice against a lawsuit from former FBI Director James Comey's daughter over what she calls her illegal firing, that office informed a New York federal judge this week.

  • November 14, 2025

    Manning Kass Hit With Age Bias Suit In Calif.

    Manning & Kass Ellrod Ramirez Trester LLP is facing an age bias lawsuit in California state court alleging a firm leader has made ageist comments at employees over 40 and is trying to drive those workers out of the firm.

  • November 14, 2025

    King & Spalding, Atty Move To End Bias Suit At 4th Circ.

    King & Spalding LLP and an attorney who complained that she didn't apply to a summer associate program as a straight, white woman because the firm sought diverse applicants have agreed to end her bias case, according to a filing in the Fourth Circuit.

  • November 14, 2025

    NJ Law Firm Blume Forte Wins Bid To Arbitrate Bias Claims

    A former staffer at Blume Forte Fried Zerres & Molinari PC had her disability discrimination suit against the firm sent to arbitration this week, with a New Jersey state court judge ruling she could not avoid an arbitration agreement because she did not recall signing it.

  • November 14, 2025

    Calif. Forecast: $50M Google Racial Bias Deal Up For Approval

    In the coming week, attorneys should watch for a hearing on a potential $50 million deal to resolve a proposed racial discrimination class action against Google. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • November 13, 2025

    EEOC's Kotagal Says Harassment Guidance On Thin Ice

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recently restored quorum sets the stage for its Republican majority to pursue an ambitious agenda that will include upending Biden-era guidance on workplace harassment "fairly quickly," Democratic Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal said at an American Bar Association event Thursday.

  • November 13, 2025

    Kraft Heinz, Vaccine Objector Settle Religious Bias Battle

    A former Kraft Heinz scientist who was fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine has resolved her religious discrimination lawsuit against the food company in the Seventh Circuit, her attorneys at First Liberty Institute announced Thursday.

  • November 13, 2025

    Transgender Troops Sue Air Force Over Lost Retirement Pay

    Seventeen transgender service members are accusing the U.S. Air Force of unlawfully rescinding their retirement orders following President Donald Trump's executive order barring transgender people in the military, saying in a lawsuit that the move resulted in lost pay and benefits.

  • November 13, 2025

    Amazon Can't Knock Out Warehouse Worker's Age Bias Suit

    A Utah federal judge tossed a former Amazon worker's claim that his Russian roots cost him his job but declined to dismiss his allegations that the company used bogus safety violations as a pretext to fire him due to his age.

  • November 13, 2025

    Housing Authority Pans 'Confusing' Bid To Revive Bias Claims

    The public housing authority in Charlotte, North Carolina, has called a former coordinator's attempt to revive long-dismissed claims in her hostile work environment case that already went to trial "confusing" and "frivolous," saying the court should dismiss her request outright.

  • November 13, 2025

    MVP: Duane Morris' Jennifer A. Riley

    Jennifer A. Riley of Duane Morris LLP helped Geico defeat conditional certification in a nationwide collective action, defended an industrial staffing company from California state law claims and helped several companies negotiate favorable settlements of wage and hour claims, earning her a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Employment MVPs.

Expert Analysis

  • Top 10 Employer Resolutions For 2025

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    While companies must monitor for policy shifts under the new administration in 2025, it will also be a year to play it safe and remember the basics, such as the importance of documenting retention policies and conducting swift investigations into workplace complaints, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

  • What To Expect From EEOC Next Year After An Active 2024

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    While highlights this year for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission include its first-ever Pregnant Workers Fairness Act cases and comprehensive workplace harassment guidance, the question for 2025 is whether the commission will sustain its momentum or shift its focus in a new direction, says Shannon Kelly at GrayRobinson.

  • Ledbetter's Legacy Shines In 2024 Equal Pay Law Updates

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    The federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act turned 15 this year, and its namesake's legacy is likely to endure in 2025 and beyond, as demonstrated by 2024's state- and local-level progress on pay equity, as well as several rulings from federal appellate courts, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • What Employers Should Consider When Drafting AI Policies

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    As generative artificial intelligence continues to evolve and transform the workplace, employers should examine six issues when creating their corporate AI policies in order to balance AI's efficiencies with the oversight needed to prevent potential biases and legal pitfalls, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Eye On Compliance: When Calif. Jobs Require Driver Licenses

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    With a California law banning unnecessarily requiring job applicants to have driver's licenses rolling out Jan. 1, employers should take to heart the law's goal of preventing discriminatory barriers while they assess and revise their employment materials for compliance, says Ani Khachatryan at Wilson Elser.

  • Ring In The New Year With An Updated Employee Handbook

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    One of the best New Year's resolutions employers can make is to update their employee handbooks, given that a handbook can mitigate, or even prevent, costly litigation as long as it accounts for recent changes in laws, court rulings and agency decisions, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.

  • 5 Employer Defenses To Military Status Discrimination Claims

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    A Colorado federal court's recent ruling, finding a Navy reservist wasn't denied promotion at his civilian job due to antimilitary bias, highlights several defenses employers can use to counter claims of violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, say attorneys at Littler Mendelson.

  • Justices Mull Sex-Based Classification In Trans Law Case

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti this week, it appears that the fate of the Tennessee law at the center of the case — a law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender adolescents — will hinge on whether the majority read the statute as imposing a sex-based classification, says Alexandra Crandall at Dickinson Wright.

  • 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.