Discrimination

  • September 28, 2026

    11th Circ. Backs Sheriff In Ex-Deputy's Sex Bias Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a win for a Florida county sheriff in a lawsuit brought by a former deputy who claimed she was forced to resign because of her race, ruling she hadn't offered evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude she'd endured sex discrimination.

  • September 28, 2026

    Hotel Co. Harassed Then Ousted Pregnant Worker, EEOC Says

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued a hotel group in Oklahoma federal court Monday claiming the business harassed an employee after learning she was pregnant and then fired her after calling her pregnancy a liability.

  • September 28, 2026

    2nd Circ. Backs Tossing Ex-United Worker's Grievance Claim

    The Second Circuit on Monday rejected a former United Airlines employee's bid to force arbitration of a grievance over his firing after a Teamsters local declined to pursue it, ruling that the worker waived his right to pursue the grievance on his own.

  • September 28, 2026

    Newsom Signs Slate Of Bills Bolstering LGBTQ+ Protections

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slate of bills defending against what he called the Trump administration's "all-out assault on the LGBTQ community," strengthening privacy protections, providing support to discharged servicemembers and enhancing access to medical care.

  • September 28, 2026

    Split 7th Circ. Backs Ill. County's Win In COVID Vax Bias Suit

    The Seventh Circuit in a split decision Monday affirmed a summary judgment win for Cook County, Illinois, in a former hospital pharmacist's suit alleging she was unlawfully fired after she refused a COVID-19 vaccine, with the majority holding the county proved a religious exemption would've posed undue hardship and one dissenting judge saying the case should go to a jury.

  • September 28, 2026

    Calif. To Add 'Chosen' Family To Bereavement Leave Law

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday signed a bill to expand an existing law that provides workers with a week of bereavement leave if someone an employee identifies as a family member dies — even if the person is not a blood relative.

  • September 28, 2026

    Car Dealer Settles EEOC Suit Over Medical Restrictions Rule

    A Florida auto dealership chain agreed to pay $112,500 to settle U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that it unlawfully required employees returning from medical leave to have no physical restrictions, according to documents filed in court Monday.

  • September 28, 2026

    Calif. To Require New Hate Speech Workplace Training

    California's employers will soon be required to incorporate hate speech prevention into state-mandated sexual harassment training sessions provided to workers, after legislation enacting the change received the governor's signature.

  • September 28, 2026

    EEOC Says Co. Fired Blind Worker On His First Day

    A Houston real estate development company fired a blind engineer hours after learning of his disability and requests for specific technology that would allow him to do his job, according to a new suit from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

  • September 25, 2026

    McDonald's Beats Most Of Black Franchisees' Bias Claims

    An Illinois federal judge on Friday tossed all but a single claim in litigation by former McDonald's franchisees who allege the fast-food giant systematically discriminated against Black operators, while warning plaintiffs that they "pushed — if not crossed" — boundaries by filing a complaint containing "more paragraphs than the Gettysburg Address contained words."

  • September 25, 2026

    Jay-Z Accuser Recants Rape Claim In Rapper's Buzbee Fight

    A woman who accused Jay-Z of rape and sparked a yearlong legal battle between the rapper and prominent Texas plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee has recanted her testimony and accused Buzbee of pursuing litigation on her behalf without her knowledge and without verifying her testimony.

  • September 25, 2026

    Dems Press DOD Over Delayed Pay For Trans Troops

    A group of House Democrats is calling on the U.S. Department of Defense to ensure that transgender service members ousted from the military under the Trump administration receive their separation payment.

  • September 25, 2026

    EEOC Accuses Call Center Of Widespread Disability Bias

    A market research firm's deficient policies and training caused call center workers with disabilities to be denied accommodations and led to harassment from supervisors, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Friday in Nevada federal court.

  • September 25, 2026

    EEOC Says Mich. Logistics Co. Allowed Sexual Harassment

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued a Michigan logistics company Friday, alleging that a company executive sexually harassed female employees for years and the company failed to stop his conduct, despite an earlier complaint to human resources.

  • September 25, 2026

    Mayo Clinic Strikes $50K Deal To End EEOC Vax Bias Suit

    The Mayo Clinic will pay $50,000 to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming it threatened to fire a Pentecostal Christian security guard if he didn't get vaccinated against COVID-19 despite his religious objections.

  • September 25, 2026

    Dems Revive Resolution To Boost Support For Working Moms

    Democratic lawmakers announced Friday that they have reintroduced a resolution calling for expanded paid leave, child care support and other federal policies aimed at helping mothers remain in the workforce and addressing economic disparities facing working moms.

  • September 25, 2026

    AI Software Co. Beats Fired Worker's Sex Harassment Suit

    A Connecticut federal judge has thrown out a sexual harassment and retaliation suit from an AI healthcare software company ex-worker who said she was sexually assaulted by a colleague at a work event, ruling that an essential filing in the case came too late.

  • September 25, 2026

    EEOC Says Shipbuilder Rejected Veteran Over Disability

    A shipbuilding company yanked back an employment offer extended to a veteran job applicant after learning that he is disabled, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims in a suit filed in Florida federal court.

  • September 25, 2026

    Trucking Co. Snubbed Driver Applicants Over 60, EEOC Says

    A Texas-based freight transportation company violated federal law by requiring older truck driver applicants to submit detailed medical information and refusing to hire many of them because they were over 60 years old, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Friday.

  • September 25, 2026

    EEOC Says Lumber Firm Fired Worker Over Seizure Risk

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission continued its annual late September litigation blitz with a new lawsuit Friday alleging a wood products manufacturing company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by firing an employee due to his seizure-related work restrictions.

  • September 25, 2026

    Electronics Firm, Vax Objector Settle Religious Bias Battle

    Colorado-based Arrow Electronics has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a former employee's claim that the company refused to grant her a religious accommodation for its COVID-19 vaccination policy, the worker's attorneys announced Friday.

  • September 25, 2026

    GrayRobinson Brings On Spire Law Employment Atty In Fla.

    GrayRobinson PA has expanded its labor and employment section in Orlando, Florida, with a former Spire Law PLLC attorney who focuses on employment and business litigation defense.

  • September 25, 2026

    Calif. Forecast: Aya Healthcare Wants Wage Arb. Bid Back On

    In the week ahead, attorneys should watch for Ninth Circuit oral arguments in Aya Healthcare Services Inc.'s attempt to revive a motion to compel arbitration in a wage and hour suit by travel clinicians. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • September 25, 2026

    New Jersey Lt. Gov. Resigns After Sex Harassment Claims

    New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale G. Caldwell has stepped down following an independent investigation conducted by Lowenstein Sandler LLP that determined he sexually harassed a staffer's friend and sent inappropriate text messages, Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced Friday.

  • September 25, 2026

    EEOC Says Hyundai Hindering National Origin Bias Probe

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asked a Georgia federal judge to force a Hyundai subsidiary to fully comply with an agency subpoena related to its probe into allegations that the company showed unlawful preference to Korean workers, arguing the company's incomplete responses have hamstrung the investigation.

Expert Analysis

  • What Greek Tragedy Teaches About Mediating AI Disputes

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    While ancient Greek writers could not have anticipated modern arbitration, their tragic plays illustrate new and familiar questions for mediators dealing with artificial intelligence disputes, including the functional differences between adjudication and resolution, says Giuseppe De Palo at JAMS.

  • Tracking Trends In State-Level Regulatory Enforcement

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    State-level enforcement now increasingly involves antitrust, artificial intelligence and data privacy issues, and the key for organizations to reducing risk is having the ability to respond across governance, public affairs, discovery and remediation in multiple states simultaneously, say consultants at FTI Consulting.

  • Tips From Apex Ruling On Handling Workers' Public Criticism

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    A National Labor Relations Board judge’s recent finding that Apex Fintech Services illegally reined in an employee’s public criticism on LinkedIn should caution employers that overbroad policies and reflexive responses may not only fail to defend the company’s reputation, but compound risks of federal labor charges, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.

  • Risk Considerations As EEOC Moves To Ax Data Reports

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    While the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recent proposal to rescind requirements for workforce demographic reporting wouldn't bar employers from collecting data, companies would have to be especially careful to gather and use such information in legally defensible ways, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • 9th Circ. Ruling Raises Bar For Arbitration Pacts Via Email

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent holding in Rickes v. Thermo Fisher that the mere delivery of an email doesn't establish an employee's assent to the arbitration agreement underscores that rollout processes should both give employees notice of the agreement and create evidence of their assent, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • OpenAI Deal Highlights AI Hiring Risks In PERM Process

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlement of allegations that OpenAI discriminated against U.S. applicants for positions connected to the permanent labor certification process underscores that employers providing or using artificial intelligence must align their recruitment practices with their overlapping compliance obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • How Rogue AI May Shape Corporate Liability, Responsibility

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    Recent artificial intelligence cyber incidents offer a window into how companies deploying autonomous systems should document risk controls even when systems exceed their intended boundaries, as jurors may treat unexpected AI conduct as foreseeable evidence of inadequate safeguards, says Jorge Monroy at Verdict Insight Partners.

  • Meta Layoff Suit Serves As Early Test Of AI Bias Claims

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    A lawsuit in California federal court alleging that Meta's use of artificial intelligence in recent layoffs negatively affected employees on protected leave provides insight for plaintiffs about what evidence to preserve and how to build these discrimination claims, says Manny Starr at Frontier Law Center.

  • Flashpoints In Focus: Minimizing Midterm Politics At Work

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    With the upcoming midterm elections producing a steady stream of controversy, employers would benefit from planning in advance and developing guardrails to ensure that election-related rifts do not jeopardize the company's culture or results, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Navigating Rising AI Use In Pro Se Employment Suits

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    As federal pro se employment filings climb, largely due to increased use of artificial intelligence, defense attorneys can combat AI misuse by building AI-specific protective order language, screening documents for hidden prompt injections and seeking sanctions over fabricated citations, says Ashley Prickett Cuttino at Ogletree.

  • Trending Legal Implications Of Employee Influencer Programs

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    Employee-generated content is rapidly becoming a popular marketing strategy, as illustrated by Starbucks' new TikTok program, but it raises several legal risks for employers, including wage and hour exposure, federal disclosure obligations, and intellectual property concerns, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Flashpoints In Focus: Shifting Workplace Violence Responses

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    Amid recent threats of violence against artificial intelligence company executives and Jewish-owned businesses, employers can use policies, processes and safety controls to help prevent workplace violence and abate its recognized hazards, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • EEOC Bias Guidance Rollback Doesn't Negate Employer Risks

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    Despite the U.S. Department of Justice recently challenging Title VII's disparate impact provisions and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rescinding affirmative action guidance, employers should resist the temptation to restructure employment practices, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.