Discrimination

  • April 19, 2024

    Ex-Paramedic Hits Harris County With Sex Bias Lawsuit

    A former Houston-area paramedic is accusing a county emergency services provider of pushing her out of her job after she was sexually harassed even though she wasn't the one who reported the harassment.

  • April 19, 2024

    Calif. Panel Says Wedbush Waived Arbitration Flag Too Late

    A U.S. Supreme Court might have changed the arbitration landscape in suits involving California's Private Attorneys General Act, but Wedbush Securities Inc. still waited too long to try pushing out of court financial advisers' claims, a California state appeals court ruled.

  • April 19, 2024

    Quest Punished Black Worker For Flagging Racism, Suit Says

    Quest Diagnostics has been sued in Pennsylvania federal court by a former phlebotomist who said she faced racial discrimination from patients and retaliation from management when she complained.

  • April 19, 2024

    Ex-Defender Says High Court Ruling Backs Bias Claims

    A former assistant federal defender urged a North Carolina district court to consider a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in her sexual harassment lawsuit, arguing the high court's decision backs her claims for employment discrimination against the federal judiciary.

  • April 19, 2024

    Grocery Chain Will Pay Up To Quell EEOC Harassment Charge

    Sprouts Farmers Market agreed to pay $265,000 to end a charge lodged with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after an agency investigation found reasonable cause to believe workers at the organic grocery chain faced sexual harassment and were punished for complaining about it, the EEOC announced Friday.

  • April 19, 2024

    NY Forecast: Judge Considers School District Race Bias Suit

    This week a New York federal judge will consider a school district's bid to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a Black former technology specialist who claims he was fired after facing discrimination on the job based on his race. Here, Law360 explores this and other cases on the docket in New York.

  • April 19, 2024

    Twitter Can't Sink Age Bias Suit Over Post-Musk Layoffs

    A California federal judge has refused to throw out a former Twitter employee's proposed class action alleging that a wave of layoffs following Elon Musk's acquisition of the social media platform now called X disproportionately pushed out older workers, saying the suit had enough detail to stay in court.

  • April 19, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: Hilton Seeks To Undo Tips Class

    In the coming week, attorneys should watch for a potential ruling on whether a class of hotel banquet event workers can continue together with wage claims against San Francisco Hilton Inc., in a long-running case that paid a visit to the Ninth Circuit. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters coming up in California.

  • April 18, 2024

    Amazon Ignored Labor, IP Laws In AI 'Panic,' Ex-Worker Says

    An artificial intelligence researcher suing Amazon for labor law violations says it disregarded numerous laws in a frantic attempt to catch up to its AI rivals, directing her to ignore copyright laws in developing its large language models and retaliating when her pregnancy leave coincided with a rival's product launch.

  • April 18, 2024

    Software Co. Demoted Worker For Getting Pregnant, Suit Says

    A former sales director has claimed the software company she worked for ran afoul of federal and state laws when it gave away her job while she was on maternity leave and put her in a more junior role when she returned, according to lawsuit filed in Connecticut federal court.

  • April 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Ex-JPMorgan Worker's Deleted Docs Doom Suit

    The Ninth Circuit refused Thursday to reopen a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. financial adviser's lawsuit alleging he was fired for raising concerns about pushing bank-managed funds to clients, finding nothing wrong with a trial court tossing his case as punishment for deleting hundreds of electronic records.

  • April 18, 2024

    6th Circ. Axes Ex-Perrigo Worker's Drug Test Firing Suit

    The Sixth Circuit refused to reinstate a bias suit from a worker who said drugmaker L. Perrigo Co. unlawfully fired him after lip balm caused him to test positive for marijuana, saying he didn't show that age or disability discrimination motivated the decision to let him go.

  • April 18, 2024

    Qdoba To Pay $3.8M To Wrap Up Wash. Pay Transparency Suit

    Mexican restaurant chain Qdoba will pay $3.8 million to resolve a class action alleging it violated Washington state's pay transparency law when it failed to disclose pay information in job postings, according to a filing in state court.

  • April 18, 2024

    Red States Back Call To Overturn Nasdaq Diversity Rule

    Utah and 23 other Republican-led states have filed an amicus brief asking the full Fifth Circuit to vacate a Nasdaq board diversity rule and declare it unconstitutional, saying the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which approved the rule, is "affirmatively perpetuating" race-based discrimination instead of eliminating it.

  • April 18, 2024

    Suit Alleging COVID-Inspired Racism Cleared For Trial

    A Pennsylvania federal judge won't let a boarding school escape an Asian American electrician's suit claiming he was targeted by a supervisor with threats and profanity after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and then fired for complaining about it, ruling the case should go to a jury.

  • April 18, 2024

    Amazon Strikes Deal, Staves Off Trial In Disability Bias Suit

    Amazon reached a deal to end a suit from an ex-employee who accused the e-commerce giant of pushing him out because of a knee injury stemming from his military service, ahead of a trial slated to begin in May, according to a filing in California federal court.

  • April 18, 2024

    2nd Circ. Seems Skeptical Of Equinox Trainer's Age Bias Case

    The Second Circuit appeared disinclined Thursday to revive a fired Equinox trainer's age bias lawsuit, with one judge saying he had "trouble finding" adequate evidence to back her argument that she was subjected to ageist comments that the company ignored.

  • April 18, 2024

    Purdue Beats Chinese Professor's Promotion Bias Suit

    An English literature professor at a Purdue University campus failed to convince an Indiana federal judge that she was passed over for a promotion because she's Chinese, as the judge found that the white instructor who won the job had qualifications justifying her selection.  

  • April 18, 2024

    EEOC Stance In Bellwether AI Suit Raises Stakes For Vendors

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently suggested that software vendor Workday may be liable if its artificial intelligence-powered hiring tools unlawfully screen out certain groups of applicants, a position that experts said could encourage private class actions if courts agree.

  • April 18, 2024

    Store Chain's Background Checks Discriminate, EEOC Says

    Convenience store chain Sheetz discriminated against nonwhite job applicants by basing hiring decisions on criminal history checks and refusing to let rejected job-seekers appeal those decisions, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told a Maryland federal court.

  • April 17, 2024

    6th Circ. Wont Upend Nashville Worker's Retaliation Win

    The Sixth Circuit declined Wednesday to scrap a $260,000 jury win for a Nashville, Tennessee, school administrator who said she was fired for conducting a racial bias investigation, stating it's too soon for the panel to rule on whether a bankruptcy proceeding nullifies the award.

  • April 17, 2024

    Wells Fargo Headed To Trial In Ex-Exec's COVID-Era ADA Suit

    Wells Fargo is headed to trial over a former investment director's Americans with Disabilities Act claim in a suit alleging he lost his job following an accommodation request after his employer prepared to mandate a return to office, with a North Carolina federal judge also trimming the former employee's age discrimination suit.

  • April 17, 2024

    4 Questions The Justices' Bias Ruling Leaves To Lower Courts

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday softening the requirements for bringing a Title VII case over a job transfer marked a massive win for workers, but experts said the full breadth of the ruling will remain unknown until lower courts tackle the questions the justices left unanswered.

  • April 17, 2024

    Port Authority Worker Takes Race Bias Suit To 3rd Circ.

    A Black woman who claimed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey didn't promote her because of her race and complaints about discrimination told the Third Circuit on Wednesday that a lower court ignored facts that should have worked in her favor when it dismissed her lawsuit.

  • April 17, 2024

    Seattle Says Firefighters' Amended Vax Complaint Still Flawed

    The city of Seattle insisted Wednesday that fatal flaws remain in an amended complaint from firefighters who sued over the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, including a failure to link religious discrimination and due process claims to Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins and other named defendants.

Expert Analysis

  • Gauging The Scope Of NYC's New AI Employment Law

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    Although employers have received some guidance on the requirements of New York City's new restriction on the use of automated employment decision tools, there are many open questions to grapple with as Local Law 144 attempts to regulate new and evolving technology, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Eye On Compliance: Women's Soccer Puts Equal Pay In Focus

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    As the U.S. Women's National Team returns from World Cup, employers can honor the fighting spirit of the athletes — which won them a historic gender pay equality settlement in 2022 — by reviewing federal equal pay compliance requirements and committing to a level playing field for all genders, says Christina Heischmidt at Wilson Elser.

  • Inflexible Remote Work Policies Can Put Employers In A Bind

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    As made clear in the recent decision by a Pennsylvania federal court in Oross v. Kutztown University, employers need to engage in individualized assessments of all requests for exemptions or accommodations to return-to-work policies to avoid potentially violating the Americans with Disabilities Act or Rehabilitation Act, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper. 

  • Congress Should Ban Employee Body Size Discrimination

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    New York City's recent enactment of a law that bans employers from discriminating against applicants and employees because of their height or weight should signal to Congress that now is the time to establish federal legislation that would prohibit such harmful practices, says Joseph Jeziorkowski at Valiant Law.

  • Why Employers Should Heed High Court Web Designer Ruling

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    While not an employment law ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in the First Amendment case 303 Creative v. Elenis raises serious questions for employers that constitute public accommodations and have related anti-discrimination policies, says Tanner Camp at Foley & Lardner.

  • What To Expect From The EEOC's Proposed Pregnancy Law

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    U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act require accommodations for many conditions related to pregnancy and childbirth, and while the final rule won't be published until the public comment period expires in October, employers should act promptly, says Amy Gluck at FisherBroyles.

  • Employer Best Practices For Pay Transparency Compliance

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    With conflicting pay transparency and disclosure laws appearing across the country, employers must carefully develop different strategies for discussing compensation with employees, applicants, and off-site workers, disclosing salaries in job ads, and staying abreast of new state and local compliance requirements, says Joy Rosenquist at Littler Mendelson.

  • Congress Must Level The Employer Arbitration Playing Field

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    Federal courts have largely eviscerated state bans on arbitration of employment claims through Federal Arbitration Act preemption holdings, and they are also limiting the impact of the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, so Congress needs to step in and amend both laws, says Alan Kabat at Bernabei & Kabat.

  • What 11th Circ. Revival Of Deaf Employee's Bias Suit Portends

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent Beasley v. O'Reilly Auto Parts decision, which created a circuit split involving the issue of linking accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act to essential job functions, is a curiosity about the court's analysis at least and a potential game changer for employer duties at most, says John Doran at Sherman & Howard.

  • What To Watch As Justices Take Up Title VII Job Transfer Case

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    With its recent decision to hear Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether an involuntary job transfer can count as employment discrimination under Title VII — an eventual ruling that has potential to reshape workplace bias claims nationwide, says Adam Grogan at Bell Law Group.

  • Parsing EEOC Guidance On Accommodating Low Vision

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    Employers need to examine recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance on provisions for employees who are blind or partially sighted, particularly on the consequences of terminating an employee with blindness or low vision without meeting obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, says Amy Epstein Gluck at FisherBroyles.

  • 5 Tips For Employers Handling Generative AI Privacy Risks

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    Employers should carefully consider the privacy implications of using generative artificial intelligence tools, and employ steps to mitigate the risks, such as de-identifying data, providing notice and identifying data flows, say Zoe Argento and Amy Kabaria at Littler.

  • Water Cooler Talk: 'The Bear' Serves Up Advice For Managers

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with Ernst & Young’s Laura Yehuda about Hulu's "The Bear" and the best practices managers can glean from the show's portrayal of workplace challenges, including those faced by young, female managers.