Discrimination

  • April 17, 2025

    USPS Escapes Fired Worker's Sex Harassment Suit

    A Washington federal judge sided with the U.S. Postal Service on Thursday in an ex-worker's harassment and retaliation suit claiming she was coerced into a sexual relationship by a supervisor and then fired for taking part, ruling that her claims were either untimely or lacked evidence of bias.

  • April 17, 2025

    EMT Org. Changes Scholarship Criteria To End Race Bias Suit

    An emergency medical technician trade association told a Mississippi federal court Thursday it will change its diversity scholarship program criteria to remove conditions based on applicants' race or ethnicity in order to resolve a medical advocacy group's bias suit.

  • April 17, 2025

    DOD Analyst Who Failed Polygraphs Meets Skeptical DC Circ.

    The D.C. Circuit on Thursday appeared to lean toward backing the U.S. Department of Defense's win in an intelligence analyst's disability discrimination suit alleging he was unlawfully reassigned after failing polygraph tests, though judges had pointed questions for both sides.

  • April 17, 2025

    Jenner & Block Fights DOJ Bid To Toss Exec Order Suit

    Jenner & Block LLP on Thursday urged a D.C. federal court to reject the government's bid to dismiss its lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the firm, saying the "legal profession as a whole is watching."

  • April 17, 2025

    Ex-NJ Prosecutor Says Whistleblower Suit Should Go To Trial

    A former deputy director of the Union County Prosecutor's Office who says she was demoted to "girl Friday" status after becoming a whistleblower told a state judge that her lawsuit should survive to go to trial because there are many factual disputes that a jury should decide.

  • April 17, 2025

    Morgan Stanley Ends Fight Over Worker's $1.6M Bias Award

    Morgan Stanley and a former employee told a North Carolina federal court Thursday that they have reached a deal to end the financial giant's legal challenge to a $1.6 million arbitration award handed to the ex-worker who claimed he was fired out of sex and age bias.

  • April 17, 2025

    Call Center Co. Agrees To End EEOC's Vision Bias Suit

    A call center operator will pay $250,000 to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging the company fired a blind employee because she needed a screen reader, according to a Texas federal court filing.

  • April 17, 2025

    Beauty Lab Can't Bar Punitive Damages In EEOC Suit

    An Idaho federal judge rejected a beauty product manufacturer's bid to take potential punitive damages off the table in a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming it wouldn't promote a Black chemist because she filed bias complaints, ruling the request was filed too late.

  • April 17, 2025

    Mansfield Rule Widely Adopted By BigLaw Faces DOJ Scrutiny

    A system for sourcing job candidates used by the vast majority of large U.S. law firms called the Mansfield Rule was highlighted by the U.S. Department of Justice in a court filing accusing Perkins Coie LLP of discriminatory hiring practices. However, employment law experts say the program appears to comply with federal antidiscrimination laws.

  • April 16, 2025

    JetBlue Hit With Meal Break, Back Pay Class Suit In Wash.

    JetBlue Airways Corp. is the target of a proposed class action in Washington state court from workers who allege the airline owes them for sick leave and breaks, as well as back pay for new hires, who had to study for mandatory orientation and job assessments.

  • April 16, 2025

    Catholic Org. Wins Permanent Halt To Pregnant Worker Regs

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is barred from enforcing its Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations or updated harassment guidelines against thousands of Catholic employers, with a North Dakota federal judge saying a religious group had demonstrated "a credible threat" to its rights.

  • April 16, 2025

    Workers Hit Fast-Food Co. With Nicotine Fee Suit

    The parent company of popular fast-food chains Arby's, Sonic and Dunkin' has been hit with a proposed class action from workers alleging that the company's fee on the health plans of employees who self-disclosed using nicotine violated federal benefits law.

  • April 16, 2025

    New Suit Calls Out Privacy Risks In EEOC Data Demand

    Three law students' recent lawsuit seeking to stop the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from obtaining their personal data was centered on concerns about potential misuse by the Trump administration, but experts said the agency's activities also put the students' details at risk of public exposure.

  • April 16, 2025

    Ex-Twitter Worker Can't Add Claims To Age Bias Suit

    A former Twitter employee leading a conditionally certified collective action on behalf of his fellow workers aged 50 and older who were fired after Elon Musk took over the company cannot amend the complaint to add new claims, a California federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • April 16, 2025

    Ex-Operations Manager, NC School Settle Racial Bias Case

    A Black former operations manager for a North Carolina charter school has voluntarily dropped his suit accusing his ex-employer of discriminating against him and firing him under false pretenses, according to a joint motion filed in federal court.

  • April 16, 2025

    Wash. AG Says Seattle Public Schools Shows Pregnancy Bias

    Seattle Public Schools fails to provide pregnant and nursing employees with accommodations such as flexible bathroom breaks and retaliates against workers who request pregnancy-related accommodations, the Washington state attorney general said in a new lawsuit.

  • April 16, 2025

    Iowa Restaurant Operator, EEOC Resolve Sex Harassment Suit

    An operator of Mexican restaurants told an Iowa federal court it has agreed to pay $225,000 to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it failed to stop male employees from groping and making sexual comments toward female colleagues.

  • April 16, 2025

    Penn State Shuts Down White Ex-Professor's Bias Suit

    A federal judge tossed a suit Wednesday from a white former writing professor who alleged that Pennsylvania State University reprimanded and poorly evaluated him for raising concerns that he faced racial bias on campus, finding he didn't suffer significant enough consequences to sustain retaliation claims.

  • April 16, 2025

    Firms Mum As EEOC Deadline For Diversity Data Passes

    Tuesday marked the deadline for large law firms to answer the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's acting chair's request for detailed information about their diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and neither the firms nor the EEOC would confirm if or how the legal heavyweights had responded.

  • April 16, 2025

    Former McCarter & English Atty Fights Bid To Toss Firing Suit

    A former McCarter & English LLP attorney and Navy SEAL has accused the firm in New Jersey state court of trying to "smear" him by claiming he was fired for his offensive social media posts rather than his advocacy for veterans.

  • April 16, 2025

    Trump Admin Sues Maine Over Transgender Athlete Policy

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday sued Maine's education department over its transgender athlete policies, accusing it of violating the "core protections" of Title IX by allowing biological males to participate in women's sports.

  • April 16, 2025

    Duane Morris Employment Pro Joins Frost Brown In San Fran

    Frost Brown Todd LLP announced that an experienced litigator who's spent over a decade working on labor and employment matters has joined the firm's San Francisco office as a partner from Duane Morris LLP.

  • April 16, 2025

    DOJ Resists Perkins Coie Summary Judgment Bid In EO Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice is continuing to defend President Donald Trump's March 6 order suspending security clearances held by Perkins Coie LLP attorneys, arguing on Wednesday that the BigLaw firm cannot take an early win, in part due to the firm's alleged "discriminatory employment activities" through participation in Mansfield Certification.

  • April 16, 2025

    Novel Equal Pay Laws Double-Edged Sword, Advocate Says

    Worker-side attorney Schwanda Rountree said she is optimistic about pay transparency empowering employees but wary of how other developments in equal pay-adjacent areas and return-to-work policies may inadvertently hurt workers. Here, Law360 speaks with Rountree about how pay-gap issues will evolve.

  • April 16, 2025

    7th Circ. Judge Doubts CTA Worker's Signal Chat Claims

    A Seventh Circuit judge on Wednesday expressed skepticism that a lower court erred in tossing a former Chicago Transit Authority employee's retaliation suit as a sanction for spoiling evidence, saying he changed his story about how electronic phone messages were deleted after a Signal executive said the initial explanation was technologically impossible.

Expert Analysis

  • 2 Areas Of Labor Law That May Change Under Trump

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    Based on President Donald Trump's recent moves, employers should expect to see significant changes in the direction of law coming out of the National Labor Relations Board, particularly in two areas where the Trump administration will seek to roll back the Biden NLRB's changes, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O’Connor.

  • Justices' Revival Ruling In Bias Suit Exceeds Procedural Issue

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Waetzig v. Halliburton allowed the plaintiff in an age discrimination lawsuit to move to reopen his case after arbitration, but the seemingly straightforward decision on a procedural issue raises complex questions for employment law practitioners, says Christopher Sakauye at Dykema.

  • Water Cooler Talk: 'Late Night' Shows DEI Is More Than Optics

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    Amid the shifting legal landscape for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Troutman's Tracey Diamond and Emily Schifter chat with their firm's DEI committee chair, Nicole Edmonds, about how the 2019 film "Late Night" reflects the challenges and rewards of fostering meaningful inclusion.

  • 9 Considerations For Orgs Using AI Meeting Assistants

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    When deciding to use artificial intelligence meeting assistants, organizations must create and implement a written corporate policy that establishes the do's and don'ts for these assistants, taking into account individualized business operations, industry standards and legal and regulatory requirements, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit

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    The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Determining What 'I Don't Feel Safe' Means In The Workplace

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    When an employee tells an employer "I don't feel safe," the phrase can have different meanings, so employment lawyers must adequately investigate to identify which meaning applies — and a cursory review and dismissal of the situation may not be a sufficient defense in case of future legal proceedings, says Karen Elliott at FordHarrison.

  • How EEOC Enforcement Priorities May Change Under Trump

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    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has already been rocked by the Trump administration's dramatic changes in personnel and policy, which calls into question how the agency may shift its direction from the priorities set forth in its five-year strategic enforcement plan in 2023, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Back To Basics After Admin Change

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    Having an up-to-date employee handbook is more critical now than ever, given the recent change in administration, and employers should understand their benefits and risks, including how they can limit employers’ liability and help retain employers’ rights, say Kasey Cappellano and Meaghan Gandy at Kutak Rock.

  • What Axed Title IX Gender Identity Rule Means For Higher Ed

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    Following a Kentucky federal court's recent decision in State of Tennessee v. Cardona to strike down a Biden-era rule that expanded the definition of Title IX to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity, institutions of higher education should prepare to reimplement policies that comply with the reinstated 2020 rule, say attorneys at Venable.

  • A Path Forward For Cos. Amid Trump's Anti-DEIA Efforts

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    Given the Trump administration’s recent efforts targeting corporate diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs — including threatening possible criminal prosecution — companies should carefully tailor their DEIA initiatives to comply with both the letter and the spirit of antidiscrimination law, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Workforce Data Collection Considerations After DEI Order

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    Following President Donald Trump's executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, employers should balance the benefits of collecting demographic data with the risk of violating the order’s prohibition on "illegal DEI," say Lynn Clements at Berkshire Associates, David Cohen at DCI Consulting and Victoria Lipnic at Resolution Economics.

  • How DOGE's Severance Plan May Affect Federal Employees

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    President Donald Trump's administration, working through the Department of Government Efficiency, recently offered a severance package to nearly all of the roughly 2 million federal employees, but unanswered questions about the offer, coupled with several added protections for government workers, led to fewer accepted offers than expected, says Aaron Peskin at Kang Haggerty.

  • Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises

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    “No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.