Discrimination

  • September 18, 2024

    Mass. Appeals Court Backs Pot Shop's Arbitration Agreement

    A Massachusetts medical marijuana dispensary can enforce an arbitration clause in its employment agreement even when it did not specify the rights a worker was waiving, an intermediate state appellate court has said.

  • September 18, 2024

    Ex-Employees Can Bring ADA Benefits Suits, High Court Told

    A retired Florida firefighter called on the U.S. Supreme Court to find that former employees can bring claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act pertaining to post-employment benefits, challenging an Eleventh Circuit ruling that determined only current employees can file these disability bias suits.

  • September 18, 2024

    UPenn Escapes Black Hospital Pharmacist's Race Bias Suit

    A federal judge threw out a suit from a Black pharmacist who said racial bias led to him being disciplined after he was falsely accused of falling asleep on the job at the University of Pennsylvania hospital, ruling there wasn't enough proof that prejudice was involved.

  • September 18, 2024

    Weinstein Pleads Not Guilty To New Sex Assault Charge

    Harvey Weinstein pled not guilty to a new sexual assault indictment in Manhattan state court on Wednesday as he faces a November retrial after his earlier New York rape conviction was vacated.

  • September 18, 2024

    Walmart Strikes Deal In EEOC Disability Bias Suit

    Walmart will pay $50,000 to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disability bias suit claiming the retailer ran afoul of disability bias law by firing a worker who racked up absences because of epileptic seizures, according to a North Carolina federal court filing. 

  • September 18, 2024

    Penn State To Pay Over $703K To End DOL Pay Bias Probe

    Penn State University said Wednesday it will pay over $703,700 to resolve U.S. Department of Labor allegations that it paid dozens of women working in maintenance, research, teaching and administrative positions less than their male counterparts.

  • September 18, 2024

    FBI Agent's Firing Squares With First Amendment, Feds Say

    The U.S. Department of Justice asked a District of Columbia federal judge to reject First Amendment claims by Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who was fired in 2018 after his disparaging text messages about Donald Trump became public and caused a scandal for the agency.

  • September 18, 2024

    Chicago Slams Airline Group's Suit Against Sick Leave Law

    Chicago's recently enacted paid sick leave law doesn't clash with federal law because it doesn't affect airlines' prices or routes, the city said, urging an Illinois federal judge to toss a trade group's challenge to the ordinance.

  • September 18, 2024

    Walmart Settles EEOC Suit Over Epileptic Worker's Firing

    Walmart has agreed to pay $40,000 to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disability bias suit claiming the store demoted and eventually fired a worker who was late to work and missed shifts because of epileptic seizures, according to a North Carolina federal court filing.

  • September 18, 2024

    Car Dealership Strikes Deal To End EEOC Disability Bias Suit

    A Maryland car dealership agreed to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it demoted and ultimately fired an employee because she suffered a traumatic brain injury in a motorcycle crash, according to a federal court order.

  • September 18, 2024

    DraftKings Fired Engineer After Leave Request, Suit Says

    A former senior engineer for DraftKings Inc. says he was fired in retaliation for asking to take parental leave last year, according to a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court.

  • September 17, 2024

    Ex-Topgolf Worker Drops Suit Over Racist Abuse

    Topgolf has escaped an Illinois federal lawsuit from a Black former employee who accused the golf entertainment chain of doing nothing in response to his complaints that fellow employees were creating a hostile work environment.

  • September 17, 2024

    Regeneron Raps Suit Alleging A Firing Was For Medical Leave

    Regeneron Pharmaceuticals urged a New York federal court to toss a former director's suit alleging she was terminated for using medical leave to care for her daughter and herself, saying her position was eliminated for financial reasons, and she hasn't proven any bias or retaliation.

  • September 17, 2024

    Clinic Settles EEOC Suit Over Vision-Impaired Worker's Firing

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday that a Maryland medical clinic has agreed to pay $75,000 to end the agency's suit accusing it of firing a vision-impaired worker who asked to have special software installed on her computer.

  • September 17, 2024

    In-House Atty Brings Bias Suit Over Firing After Miscarriage

    A former in-house attorney at chemicals company Arxada has launched a discrimination lawsuit in New Jersey state court accusing the business of unlawfully terminating her in the days after she showed interest in going on leave to recover from a miscarriage.

  • September 17, 2024

    Duane Morris Atty Asks Court To Keep Proposed Class Alive

    A Duane Morris LLP attorney asked a California federal court to keep her proposed class action against the firm alive, alleging the BigLaw firm is mischaracterizing her claims that it underpaid and misclassified employees.

  • September 17, 2024

    School To Pay Math Teacher £850K Over Baseless Firing

    A Catholic secondary school has agreed to pay £850,000 ($1.2 million) in a settlement to its former head of math, after a tribunal ruled the school fired him for refusing to take up a less senior position.

  • September 17, 2024

    Social Worker Wins £56K Over 'Gender-Fluid' Dog Debate

    A social worker sanctioned for expressing "gender critical" views in a discussion about a colleague's dress-wearing "gender-fluid" dog has won £56,000 ($74,000) after her employer conceded it had harassed her.  

  • September 17, 2024

    8th Circ. Won't Revive Fired Lockheed Atty's Race Bias Suit

    The Eighth Circuit refused on Tuesday to reinstate a race discrimination and retaliation case brought by a former Lockheed Martin in-house attorney whose suit was tossed after a trial court concluded she had lied about her income, rejecting her push to deflect blame onto her lawyers.

  • September 17, 2024

    BBC Must Face Bias Claims From Disabled Accountant

    The BBC has failed to get a 55-year-old accountant's age and disability discrimination claims axed, as an employment tribunal ruled that she could still prove her case even though she filed it four months late.

  • September 16, 2024

    EEOC Sues Utility Services Co. Over Remote Work Refusal

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against a utility services provider in Atlanta federal court Monday, claiming the company refused to let an employee work remotely after she had a stroke and a head injury and fired her weeks later.

  • September 16, 2024

    Home Healthcare Cos. Strike Deal In EEOC Disability Bias Suit

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Monday that a pair of affiliated home healthcare companies will shell out $65,000 to wrap up the agency's suit accusing them of wrongly firing an occupational therapist after she had a seizure and needed rides to get to patients' homes.

  • September 16, 2024

    Longtime Cooley Litigator Jumps To Jackson Lewis In Calif.

    Jackson Lewis PC has expanded its Orange County, California, office with a longtime employment litigator who spent more than two decades with Cooley LLP. 

  • September 16, 2024

    Raytheon Fails To Sink Ex-Worker's Age Discrimination Case

    A Texas federal judge refused Monday to throw out an age discrimination suit accusing defense contractor Raytheon of wrongfully firing a longtime employee after he tapped a male co-worker on the backside with a cafeteria tray.

  • September 16, 2024

    NHS To Pay £87K To Clinician Who Quit Due To Low Funding

    A National Health Service trust has agreed to pay more than £87,000 ($114,800) to a psychologist who won her claim that she was forced to quit her job because of a lack of funding and resources for her mental health unit.

Expert Analysis

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

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    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Sick Leave Insights From 'Parks And Rec'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper spoke with Lisa Whittaker at the J.M. Smucker Co. about how to effectively manage sick leave policies to ensure legal compliance and fairness to all employees, in a discussion inspired by a "Parks and Recreation" episode.

  • Navigating Title VII Compliance And Litigation Post-Muldrow

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Muldrow v. St. Louis has broadened the scope of Title VII litigation, meaning employers must reassess their practices to ensure compliance across jurisdictions and conduct more detailed factual analyses to defend against claims effectively, say Robert Pepple and Christopher Stevens at Nixon Peabody.

  • Why Employers Shouldn't Overreact To Protest Activities

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    Recent decisions from the First Circuit in Kinzer v. Whole Foods and the National Labor Relations Board in Home Depot hold eye-opening takeaways about which employee conduct is protected as "protest activity" and make a case for fighting knee-jerk reactions that could result in costly legal proceedings, says Frank Shuster at Constangy.

  • Best Practices To Accommodate Workplace Service Animals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Since the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently pledged to enforce accommodations for people with intellectual, developmental and mental health-related disabilities, companies should use an interactive process to properly respond when employees ask about bringing service animals into the workplace, say Samuel Lillard and Jantzen Mace at Ogletree.

  • Kansas Workers' Comp. Updates Can Benefit Labor, Business

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    While the most significant shake-up from the April amendment to the Kansas Workers Compensation Act will likely be the increase in potential lifetime payouts for workers totally disabled on the job, other changes that streamline the hearing process will benefit both employees and companies, says Weston Mills at Gilson Daub.

  • Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape

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    Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.

  • Justices' Title VII Ruling Requires Greater Employer Vigilance

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Muldrow v. St. Louis ruling expands the types of employment decisions that can be challenged under Title VII, so employers will need to carefully review decisions that affect a term, condition or privilege of employment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 6th Circ. Bias Ruling Shows Job Evaluations Are Key Defense

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    In Wehrly v. Allstate, the Sixth Circuit recently declined to revive a terminated employee’s federal and state religious discrimination and retaliation claims, illustrating that an employer’s strongest defense in such cases is a documented employment evaluation history that justifies an adverse action, says Michael Luchsinger at Segal Mccambridge.

  • Navigating Harassment Complaints From Trans Employees

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in Copeland v. Georgia Department of Corrections, concerning the harassment of a transgender employee, should serve as a cautionary tale for employers, but there are steps that companies can take to create a more inclusive workplace and mitigate the risks of claims from transgender and nonbinary employees, say Patricia Konopka and Ann Thomas at Stinson.

  • Employer Considerations Before Title IX Rule Goes Into Effect

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    While the U.S. Department of Education's final rule on Title IX is currently published as an unofficial version, institutions and counsel should take immediate action to ensure they are prepared for the new requirements, including protections for LGBTQ+ and pregnant students and employees, before it takes effect in August, say Jeffrey Weimer and Cori Smith at Reed Smith.

  • 5 Employer Actions Now Risky After Justices' Title VII Ruling

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    Last week in Muldrow v. St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that harm didn't have to be significant to be considered discriminatory under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, making five common employer actions vulnerable to litigation, say Kellee Kruse and Briana Scholar at The Employment Law Group.

  • Breaking Down EEOC's Final Rule To Implement The PWFA

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    Attorneys at Littler highlight some of the key provisions of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's final rule and interpretive guidance implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which is expected to be effective June 18, and departures from the proposed rule issued in August 2023.