December 13, 2021
A Texas federal judge said religious employers are shielded from some suits alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, the Seventh Circuit took a broad view of a religious carveout to bias law, and a university was ordered to reinstate a transgender professor. Here are three LGBTQ discrimination decisions from 2021 that should be on employment lawyers' radar.
July 15, 2021
The Seventh Circuit took an expansive view of the "ministerial exception" last week when it ruled that the anti-discrimination law carveout for religious employers shields these institutions from harassment claims, but lawyers say the decision leaves big questions looming about the principle's legal boundaries.
July 09, 2021
A divided Seventh Circuit ruled Friday that religious employers are shielded from claims of harassment between ministers, taking an expansive view of an anti-discrimination law carveout for faith-based employers and drawing a sharp dissent from a trio of judges on the court.
June 22, 2021
The EEOC will likely throw its weight around in the courtroom, while legal fights over religious freedom, LGBTQ issues and gender pay gaps play out at both the federal and state levels. Here, Law360 looks at the litigation hotspots discrimination lawyers should be keeping an eye on in the second half of 2021.
February 09, 2021
Seventh Circuit judges pressed the Archdiocese of Chicago on Tuesday to address its "robust position" that the ministerial exception bars all claims arising out of employment discrimination statutes as the full court considers whether it precludes a former church music director's claims that he was harassed for being gay and overweight.
December 09, 2020
A Roman Catholic church persuaded the Seventh Circuit on Wednesday to revisit a divided panel decision that said a carveout to federal workplace bias law for religious employers didn't preclude a lawsuit from a former music director who claimed he was harassed for being gay and overweight.
October 15, 2020
A Seventh Circuit panel undercut high court precedent shielding religious organizations from bias claims by letting a former music director sue an Illinois Catholic church for allegedly bullying him for being gay and overweight, religious groups said, supporting a full-panel rehearing of the case.
September 01, 2020
A Catholic church can be sued for employment discrimination by a former music director who alleges his supervisor harassed him because he was gay and overweight, the Seventh Circuit held, ruling that the ministerial exception doesn't immunize churches from all bias claims.