Discrimination

  • November 05, 2024

    3rd Circ. Backs UPenn In Fired Worker's Disability Bias Suit

    The Third Circuit declined Tuesday to revive a former videographer's suit claiming the University of Pennsylvania fired her for taking time off to treat her bipolar disorder, ruling that she hadn't put forward enough proof that discrimination drove her termination.

  • November 05, 2024

    Audio Worker Says Flagging Ethical Concerns Got Him Fired

    An audio series platform reneged on a promise to offer full-time employment to an independent contractor after he raised concerns about discriminatory content the company was producing and then abruptly fired him when he asked about his promised employment contract, a lawsuit filed in California state court said.

  • November 05, 2024

    Timken Denies Firing Plant Manager Over DEI Push

    Ohio-based roller bearing manufacturer Timken has defended its decision to terminate a plant supervisor who claimed his beliefs about diversity, equity and inclusion led to his dismissal, saying the former boss was fired for poor leadership and that his DEI discussions fell outside Connecticut legal protections.

  • November 05, 2024

    Harvard Can't End Suit Claiming Antisemitism On Campus

    Harvard University must face allegations that it was indifferent to antisemitic behavior on its campus in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • November 05, 2024

    Ascension Staff To Get Back Pay In COVID Vaccine Settlement

    Ascension Health Alliance will provide back pay for employees who were denied religious exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccine policy and suspended without pay, under a revamped settlement approved by a Michigan federal judge.

  • November 05, 2024

    Burden For Hearst May Override Vax Objection, 1st Circ. Hints

    A Boston television station may have been justified in firing a Hearst videographer who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic even if the worker's religious objections were sincere, the First Circuit hinted during arguments Tuesday.

  • November 05, 2024

    Littler Adds To Litigation Bench With Ex-Fresno, Calif. Atty

    Employment firm Littler Mendelson PC announced that a former deputy attorney for the City of Fresno joined the firm's office in the city, adding that his government along with employment law experience will help its employer clients.

  • November 05, 2024

    5th Circ. Says Late EEOC Filing Dooms Race Bias Suit

    The Fifth Circuit shut down a race bias suit from a worker who said his supervisor referred to him by a racial slur, finding that the ex-worker filed his pre-suit U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge too late.

  • November 05, 2024

    Ex-Fabiani Cohen Atty Fights To Preserve Discrimination Suit

    A Black female insurance and construction law attorney is urging a Manhattan federal judge not to toss her suit against her former firm, Fabiani Cohen & Hall LLP, arguing that though she was an equity owner, she was still an employee who could bring claims.

  • November 05, 2024

    EEOC Taps Agency Vet To Run Field Offices

    SLOTTING---The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday that an attorney who has been with the federal bias watchdog for nearly three decades will oversee the agency's 53 field offices.

  • November 05, 2024

    On The Ground: How Attorneys Safeguarded The Election

    Attorneys were working tirelessly Tuesday to support citizens and election workers on the final day of voting in what is expected to be one of history's closest and most contentious presidential contests.

  • November 04, 2024

    Paralegal Loses ADA Suit Over Firm's Vax Status Disclosure

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday freed a personal injury firm from a former paralegal's claims that it unlawfully publicized her COVID-19 vaccination status, saying the paralegal herself made her vaccination status public when she opposed the vaccine outside the confines of an employer-initiated medical inquiry.

  • November 04, 2024

    DOD Trans Healthcare Denial Discriminates, Judge Rules

    A Maine federal judge ruled Monday that the U.S. Department of Defense's denial of healthcare coverage for two transgender women's gender-confirmation surgeries violates the Fifth Amendment's equal protection clause, finding that the way the department applied a statutory exclusion discriminated based on sex and transgender status.

  • November 04, 2024

    Former Curaleaf VP Sues Over Pay Bias, Sexual Harassment

    A former executive at Curaleaf is suing the cannabis dispensary giant for discrimination and sexual harassment, claiming in Massachusetts federal court the company paid her white C-suite peers more money and ultimately sidelined her after she spoke out about male colleagues' lewd and racist remarks.

  • November 04, 2024

    11th Circ. Backs VA's Win In Ex-Nurse's Race Bias Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit refused to reopen a former nurse practitioner's lawsuit claiming the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs demoted her because she's Black, finding she neglected to file a formal discrimination charge within the time limit specified by federal law.

  • November 04, 2024

    Judge Cites Tesla Stock, Friendship In SpaceX Firing Recusal

    A California federal judge on Monday recused herself from a hostile work environment and retaliation suit brought by a group of former SpaceX employees, saying she owns Tesla stock and is friends with a SpaceX human resource executive's mother-in-law.

  • November 04, 2024

    Worker Says Ga. City Fired Him For Opposing Mayor's Fraud

    The former finance director of Norcross, Georgia, has slapped the city, its mayor and a city council member with a complaint in Georgia federal court alleging he was subjected to "vicious retaliation" and fired after disclosing the mayor's "fraud, waste, abuse and violations of the law."

  • November 04, 2024

    Wash. Barred From Enforcing Anti-Bias Law Against Nonprofit

    A Washington federal judge paused the state from enforcing its anti-discrimination statute against a Christian nonprofit, saying the organization is likely to succeed in a lawsuit revived by the Ninth Circuit claiming it has a constitutional right to hire only like-minded employees who abstain from sex outside of heterosexual marriage.

  • November 04, 2024

    McKesson Inks $450K DOL Deal Following Hiring Bias Probe

    The U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday that McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc. has agreed to pay nearly $450,000 to resolve the agency's claims that it gave hiring preferences to Asian job applicants over Black, Hispanic and white job hopefuls.

  • November 04, 2024

    Religious Groups Want 5th Circ. To Toss FCC Diversity Form

    Religious broadcasters are asking the Fifth Circuit to step in and stop the Federal Communications Commission from making them turn in diversity data, a recently reinstated policy that they say tramples on their First Amendment rights and pressures them to "engage in race- and sex-conscious employment decisions."

  • November 04, 2024

    Mortgage Co. Accused Of 'Bad Faith' In Settlement With Atty

    A former staff attorney with a mortgage company has accused the business of "bad faith" for purportedly trying to renegotiate the terms of a settlement to resolve her Texas state lawsuit alleging she was fired after she witnessed inappropriate sexual behavior by a deputy general counsel.

  • November 04, 2024

    Ogletree Adds Steptoe & Johnson Employment Pro In Texas

    Labor and employment firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC is expanding its Texas team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a Steptoe & Johnson PLLC litigator as a shareholder in its San Antonio office.

  • November 01, 2024

    Fired Meetup VP Can't Fend Off Arbitration In Sex Bias Suit

    A New York federal judge affirmed the court's call to uphold an arbitration pact in an executive's sex bias suit claiming social media company Meetup fired her for taking maternity leave, backing his initial ruling that a law halting arbitration of sex harassment disputes didn't apply to her claims.

  • November 01, 2024

    Ex-Nuclear Worker Fired Over Drug Test Is Denied Rehearing

    A Mississippi federal judge said he won't allow a former nuclear engineer for Entergy Operations Inc. to proceed with a wrongful termination lawsuit accusing the company of tampering with drug tests as retaliation for his refusing to falsify safety reports, decrying his arguments as "conjecture, speculation" and "conclusory allegations."

  • November 01, 2024

    NJ Mayor Harassed Police Chief, Suit Says

    A suspended police chief in a New Jersey borough has filed a lawsuit in state court against the borough's mayor and other officials, alleging he has been subjected to harassment and retaliation in violation of the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act and Civil Rights Act.

Expert Analysis

  • Title VII Compliance Lessons From Raytheon Age Bias Suit

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    A Texas federal court’s recent refusal to dismiss age discrimination claims from a former Raytheon employee, terminated after he admitted to acts that Raytheon says violated its harassment policy, nonetheless illustrates strategies employers can use to protect themselves when facing competing Title VII workplace obligations, say attorneys at Segal McCambridge.

  • How The Presidential Election Will Affect Workplace AI Regs

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    The U.S. has so far adopted a light-handed approach to regulating artificial intelligence in the labor and employment area, but the presidential election is unlikely to have as dramatic of an effect on AI regulations as it may on other labor and employment matters, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Eye On Compliance: ADA Accommodations For Obesity

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    As the classification of "obesity" as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act continues to evolve, employers should note federal district and state court deviations from U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines, which have deemed obesity to be a qualifying impairment, no matter the cause, says Lauren Stadler at Wilson Elser.

  • 3rd. Circ. Ruling Shows Employers Where To Put ADA Focus

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    A recent Third Circuit decision in Morgan v. Allison Crane & Rigging, confirming that the Americans with Disabilities Act protects some temporarily impaired employees, reminds employers to pursue compliance through uniform policies that head off discriminatory decisions, not after-the-fact debates over an individual's disability status, says Joseph McGuire at Freeman Mathis.

  • 11th Circ. Ruling Offers Refresher On 'Sex-Plus' Bias Claims

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    While the Eleventh Circuit’s recent ruling in McCreight v. AuburnBank dismissed former employees’ sex-plus-age discrimination claims, the opinion reminds employers to ensure that workplace policies and practices do not treat a subgroup of employees of one sex differently than the same subgroup of another sex, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • Employment Verification Poses Unique Risks For Staffing Cos.

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    All employers face employee verification issues, but a survey of recent settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section suggests that staffing companies' unique circumstances raise the chances they will be investigated and face substantial fines, says Eileen Scofield at Alston & Bird.

  • What To Expect As Worker Bias Suit Heads To High Court

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    The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, which concerns how courts treat discrimination claims brought by majority group plaintiffs, and its decision could eliminate the background circumstances test, but is unlikely to significantly affect employers' diversity programs, say Victoria Slade and Alysa Mo at Davis Wright.

  • Mitigating Construction Employers' Risks Of Discrimination

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    Recent heightened government scrutiny of construction industry employment practices illustrates the need for nondiscriminatory recruitment and proactive assessment of workforces and worksites, including auditing for demographic disparities and taking documented steps to address such issues, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Cos. Should Focus On State AI Laws Despite New DOL Site

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    Because a new U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored website about the disability discrimination risks of AI hiring tools mostly echoes old guidance, employers should focus on complying with the state and local AI workplace laws springing up where Congress and federal regulators have yet to act, say attorneys at Littler.

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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.