Discrimination

  • October 04, 2024

    Jury Finds Cognizant Biased Against Non-Indian Workers

    A California federal jury found Friday that Cognizant Technologies engaged in a "pattern or practice" of intentional discrimination against a class of non-South Asian and non-Indian employees who were terminated, setting the stage for a second phase that will determine damages against the IT giant.

  • October 04, 2024

    Former X Worker's 2 Sex Bias Suits Will Go To Same Judge

    A San Francisco federal judge said Friday that a former X Corp. engineer's lawsuit claiming Elon Musk laid off more women than men after acquiring the company belonged with a similar case the worker filed in San Jose federal court — but chided both sides, saying "nobody's being terribly reasonable."

  • October 04, 2024

    Prof. Claims Fox Chase, Temple U. Failed To Deter Harassment

    A cancer research professor has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Temple University Health System's Fox Chase Cancer Center, claiming in Pennsylvania federal court it failed to act on her complaints of being harassed by the eventual director, who she said went on to influence "numerous decisions" that hurt her career.

  • October 04, 2024

    USDA Updates Regulation Without Labor Compliance Portion

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture filed a final rule Friday tweaking an acquisition regulation after nearly 30 years since a previous overhaul, but the rule doesn't include a proposal that would have required federal contractors to certify compliance with federal and state labor laws.

  • October 04, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: O'Reilly $4M COVID Screening Deal At Court

    In the coming week, attorneys should watch for potential final approval of a deal to resolve a class action alleging O'Reilly Auto Enterprises failed to pay for time workers spent in COVID-19 screenings. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • October 04, 2024

    Healthcare Co. Inks Deal In DOL Equal Pay Investigation

    A healthcare diagnostics company has agreed to pay nearly $60,000 to the U.S. Department of Labor to end an agency probe over concerns that a New Jersey manufacturing facility undercompensated female employees compared to their male colleagues.

  • October 04, 2024

    NY Bakery To Pay $30K To End Wage, Retaliation Suit

    A New York bakery will pay $30,000 to end a proposed collective action alleging it failed to pay workers full and timely wages and fired an employee for taking time off to recover from diagnosed vertigo, according to court papers filed Friday.

  • October 04, 2024

    NY Forecast: Judge Mulls ConEd's Bid To Toss Atty's Bias Suit

    This week, a New York federal judge will consider whether to toss a former ConEd attorney's lawsuit claiming she was discriminated against on the basis of her age and gender.

  • October 04, 2024

    Dealership Can't Escape Salesman's Race, Disability Bias Suit

    A Pennsylvania federal judge declined to toss a Black car salesman's suit claiming he was forced to resign from a BMW dealership after it sabotaged his success because of his disability and race, ruling he put forward enough proof showing bias may have been at play.

  • October 04, 2024

    Real Estate Co., EEOC Strike Deal To End Race Bias Suit

    A real estate company has agreed to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it gave a Black manager twice as much work as a white colleague and ultimately fired him because he was "lazy," according to a filing in Georgia federal court.

  • October 04, 2024

    LA Dispensary Hit With Sex Harassment, Unpaid Wages Suit

    A dispensary in Los Angeles failed to fairly compensate workers and allowed its CEO to sexually harass a former employee, she told a California state court.

  • October 04, 2024

    High Court To Weigh In On Halliburton Worker's Age Bias Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to wade into an age discrimination lawsuit from a former Halliburton employee who said his case was wrongly shut down when the Tenth Circuit ruled a trial court lacked the power to reopen it following arbitration.

  • October 04, 2024

    Greenberg Traurig Adds WeWork Employment Law Head In SF

    Greenberg Traurig LLP is boosting its West Coast team, bringing in WeWork's former global head of employment law as a shareholder in its San Francisco office.

  • October 03, 2024

    Cognizant Worker Transfers From India Declining, Jury Told

    Cognizant Technologies rested its defense Thursday of class action claims that it is biased toward Indian workers after a company executive testified that the number of employee transfers from India to the U.S. has steadily decreased since 2014, bringing to a close live testimony in the racially charged retrial.

  • October 03, 2024

    11th Circ. Rejects Bid To Block Fla. Law Banning Trans Care

    The Eleventh Circuit said Thursday it would not reconsider a decision that allowed a Florida law that bans gender-affirming care for transgender minors and restricts it for adults to take effect.

  • October 03, 2024

    12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar

    One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.

  • October 03, 2024

    Garth Brooks Accused Of Rape By Former Stylist

    Country music star Garth Brooks' former hair and makeup stylist sued him in California state court on Thursday, claiming he raped her in a Los Angeles hotel room while preparing for a Recording Academy event in 2019.

  • October 03, 2024

    Okla. Campus Police Officer Gets Trial In Age Bias Suit

    An Oklahoma federal judge on Thursday teed up for trial a former campus police officer's claims alleging a school district refused to rehire him because he was 65 and had lodged complaints about a superior, but threw out his allegation that he was deprived of his due process rights.

  • October 03, 2024

    Dollar Tree Dodges Retaliation Claims In FMLA Suit

    A former Dollar Tree store manager failed to support her claims that she faced retaliation over her Family and Medical Leave Act request to take time off to care for her disabled son due to the coronavirus pandemic, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, handing a partial win to the retailer.

  • October 03, 2024

    4th Circ. Revives Retaliation Claim In NIH Race Bias Suit

    The Fourth Circuit has revived part of a discrimination suit by a Black former chief grants management officer with the National Institutes of Health, reasoning in a published opinion that the lower court failed to consider her retaliation claim solely in the context of the complaint's allegations.

  • October 03, 2024

    Del. Agency Dodges Ex-Employee's Disability Bias Suit

    A Delaware state agency defeated a former employee's lawsuit alleging she faced increased scrutiny from supervisors because of her service dog and was terminated while on medical leave, with a federal judge ruling Thursday that the department is immune from her federal bias claims.

  • October 03, 2024

    Jones Day Parental Leave Bias Claims Must Go To Jury

    Jones Day will have to defend its family leave policy at trial against claims from married ex-associates who say it is discriminatory and violates District of Columbia law, a D.C. federal judge said Thursday in concluding such bias allegations were a close call.

  • October 03, 2024

    Md. State Police Ink $2.8 Deal To End DOJ Hiring Bias Suit

    The Maryland Department of State Police has agreed to pay $2.75 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice suit claiming it used physical fitness and written tests to screen out Black and female applicants for entry-level trooper positions.

  • October 03, 2024

    Co. Fired Older Worker After One Look, EEOC Says

    A Washington-based construction services company pulled a 67-year-old assembler's job placement because of a manager's incorrect assumption about his physical capabilities, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in a complaint filed in federal court.

  • October 03, 2024

    EEOC Says Colo. Pot Shop Fired Budtender Over Disability

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Colorado marijuana dispensary, alleging that it fired a budtender for memory issues stemming from a mini stroke when she was nine years old, while privately calling her a "fruitcake."

Expert Analysis

  • How The Tide Of EEOC Litigation Rolled Back In FY 2024

    Author Photo

    An analysis of the location, timing and underlying claims asserted in U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission-initiated cases during fiscal year 2024 shows that the commission saw a substantial decrease in litigation activity after a surge last year, but employers should not drop their guard, say Christopher DeGroff and Andrew Scroggins at Seyfarth.

  • The Key Changes In Revised FDIC Hiring Regulations

    Author Photo

    Attorneys at Ogletree break down the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new rule, effective Oct. 1, that will ease restrictions on financial institutions hiring employees with criminal histories, amend the FDIC's treatment of minor offenses and clarify its stance on expunged or dismissed criminal records.

  • Employer Tips For PUMP Act Compliance As Law Turns 2

    Author Photo

    Enacted in December 2022, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act requires employers to provide reasonable break time and a private space for employees to express breast milk, but some companies may still be struggling with how to comply, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • What To Know About Ill. Employment Law Changes

    Author Photo

    Illinois employers should review their policies in light of a number of recent changes to state employment law, including amendments to the state’s Human Rights Act and modifications to the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act, say attorneys at Kilpatrick.

  • Mich. Whistleblower Ruling Expands Retaliation Remedies

    Author Photo

    The Michigan Supreme Court's recent Occupational Health and Safety Act decision in Stegall v. Resource Technology is important because it increases the potential exposure for defendants in public policy retaliation cases, providing plaintiffs with additional claims, say Aaron Burrell and Timothy Howlett at Dickinson Wright.

  • How States Are Approaching AI Workplace Discrimination

    Author Photo

    As legislators across the U.S. have begun addressing algorithmic discrimination in the workplace, attorneys at Reed Smith provide an overview of the status, applicability and provisions of 13 state and local bills.

  • The Risks Of Employee Political Discourse On Social Media

    Author Photo

    As election season enters its final stretch and employees increasingly engage in political speech on social media, employers should beware the liability risks and consider policies that negotiate the line between employees' rights and the limits on those rights, say Bradford Kelley and James McGehee at Littler.

  • 7th Circ. Rulings Offer Employee Vaccine Exemption Guidance

    Author Photo

    Dawn Solowey and Samantha Brooks at Seyfarth explain how two recent Seventh Circuit rulings in Passarella v. Aspirus and Bube v. Aspirus could affect litigation involving employee vaccine exemptions, and discuss employer best practices for handling accommodation requests that include both religious and secular concerns.

  • Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance

    Author Photo

    An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.

  • Old Employment Law Principles Can Answer New AI Concerns

    Author Photo

    Despite growing legal and regulatory concerns about how artificial intelligence tools may affect employment decisions and worker rights, companies should take comfort in knowing that familiar principles of employment law and established compliance regimes can still largely address these new twists on old questions, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • NYC Wage Info Bill Highlights Rise In Pay Transparency Laws

    Author Photo

    With New York City the latest to mull requiring companies to annually report employee wage data, national employers should consider adapting their compliance practices to comply with increasingly common pay transparency and disclosure obligations at state and local levels, says Kelly Cardin at Littler Mendelson.

  • Workday AI Bias Suit Suggests Hiring Lessons For Employers

    Author Photo

    As state laws and a federal agency increasingly focus on employment bias introduced by artificial intelligence systems, a California federal court's recent decision to allow a discrimination suit to proceed against Workday's AI-driven recruitment software, shows companies should promptly assess these tools' risks, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.

  • How Anti-DEI Bill Could Affect Employers' Diversity Efforts

    Author Photo

    Sen. J.D. Vance's recently introduced Dismantle DEI Act would substantially limit employers’ ability to implement and promote workplace diversity, equity and inclusion, but there are still steps employers can take to support a diverse workforce, says Peter Ennis at Cozen O’Connor.