Discrimination

  • October 21, 2024

    Justices Turn Away Ex-Raytheon Workers' Vaccine Bias Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging Raytheon Technologies Corp. harassed and forced out employees who received religious exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccine policy, despite workers' assertion that the Ninth Circuit applied erroneously narrow standards.

  • October 21, 2024

    Paul Hastings Adds Baker McKenzie Employment Team In NY

    Paul Hastings LLP said Monday that it has landed a top-tier, four-partner employment litigation team in New York from Baker McKenzie LLP to strengthen its East Coast practice.

  • October 18, 2024

    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attys From 74 Firms

    The attorneys chosen as Law360's 2024 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.

  • October 18, 2024

    Wash. AG Must Face Christian Org.'s Suit Against Bias Law

    A Washington federal judge won't toss a Christian nonprofit's lawsuit challenging the state's antidiscrimination law, saying the dispute is not entirely resolved by the state attorney general's recent pledge not to go after the organization for hiring only Christians for two open positions.

  • October 18, 2024

    No Special Retaliation Standard For HR Workers, EEOC Says

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Friday the Seventh Circuit should revive a former human resources manager's suit claiming she was fired for reporting discrimination, arguing a lower court erred by holding her claims to a higher standard because of her job.

  • October 18, 2024

    NY Forecast: Workers Want Collective Status In Care Co. Suit

    This week, a federal magistrate judge will consider competing motions over the continuation of a collective action brought by former workers at a western New York home healthcare provider who claim they were not properly paid overtime required by federal law. Here, Law360 looks at this and another case on the docket in New York.

  • October 18, 2024

    Walmart Fired Managers Who Fought Biased Hiring, Suit Says

    Walmart fired two managers in retaliation for their persistent complaints about discriminatory hiring practices at an Atlanta-area fulfillment center, the pair have told a Georgia federal judge, alleging they were told not to hire or be "quick to fire" people who seemed "too Black," "too ethnic" or "overtly gay."

  • October 18, 2024

    Connecticut Bus Drivers Settle Disability Bias Claims

    A Connecticut Department of Transportation contractor and three Black bus drivers have settled a federal lawsuit in which the drivers alleged that they experienced retaliation after suffering allergic reactions to disinfectants that were used to clean the vehicles during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • October 18, 2024

    Class Status Sought For Sex Bias Suit Over Layoffs At X

    A suit alleging X targeted women in layoffs after Elon Musk bought the company should move forward as a class action because hundreds of women were impacted by sexist decision-making, a former employee for the company once known as Twitter argued in California federal court

  • October 18, 2024

    EEOC Suits Crystallize Commitment To Fighting LGBTQ+ Bias

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recently concluded fiscal year included seven new suits accusing employers of discriminating against LGBTQ+ workers, which experts say is a sign that the agency is making good on its stated commitment to fight bias based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Here are three things to know about this EEOC litigation priority.

  • October 18, 2024

    NY State Court System Escapes Ex-Employee's Bias Suit

    A federal judge has given the New York State Unified Court System a summary judgment win in a bias suit filed by a former court clerk who is a Hindu, ruling that the ex-employee didn't show that religious discrimination was a motive for denying her leave or her firing.

  • October 18, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: 9th Circ. Reviews NLRB's Cemex Decision

    In the coming week, attorneys should watch for oral arguments at the Ninth Circuit in which Cemex Construction Materials Pacific LLC and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are each seeking to undo a major National Labor Relations Board decision regarding union representation. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • October 18, 2024

    Steptoe & Johnson Lands Clark Hill Employment Duo In Texas

    Steptoe & Johnson PLLC has grown its labor and employment offerings in Texas with the addition of two attorneys from Clark Hill PLC.

  • October 18, 2024

    Nev. Construction Co. Settles EEOC Disability Bias Probe

    A Nevada construction company will pay $56,000 after a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation discovered reasonable cause to believe it fired a worker after she asked for accommodation because of her disability, the agency said. 

  • October 18, 2024

    Atty Sanctioned For 'Indifference' In Tastykake Co. Bias Suit

    An attorney's "indifference" to court orders and deadlines in a Black Muslim worker's wage and discrimination suit against the maker of Tastykake warrants $30,000 in sanctions, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, warning that more serious consequences might come.

  • October 17, 2024

    Ex-CEO Of Credit Union Blames Accounting Firm For Firing

    The dismissed chief executive officer of a Connecticut credit union is suing the financial institution and Whittlesey PC, its accounting firm, claiming he was fired after following advice from the largest CPA group in the state on when to calendar a $1.2 million gain connected to a property sale.

  • October 17, 2024

    7th Circ. Won't Give Injured Prof Another Shot At ADA Suit

    The Seventh Circuit backed the dismissal Thursday of a professor's suit claiming she was denied tenure out of disability bias after she suffered a traumatic brain injury, ruling there's no evidence bias influenced the denial and her request for a "do-over" wasn't a reasonable accommodation.

  • October 17, 2024

    Texas County Can't Get Early Win In Atty's Leave Request Suit

    Harris County, Texas, cannot snag a pretrial win in an attorney's Americans with Disabilities Act suit, a federal judge ruled Thursday, keeping alive claims that the county failed to accommodate the attorney's leave requests.

  • October 17, 2024

    Man Says He Was Forced From Security Job For Being 'Too Old'

    Food, janitorial and security service provider Blackstone Consulting Inc. has been sued in Georgia federal court by a former employee who alleges the company engaged in a "relentless campaign of age-based harassment and disparate treatment" against him before demoting him, significantly decreasing his pay and effectively forcing him to resign.

  • October 17, 2024

    DHL Supply Chain Hit With Disability Bias Suit

    Logistics giant DHL Supply Chain was hit with a disability discrimination lawsuit Wednesday from a worker who says she was forced out of her job after DHL demanded she see a company physician to verify her debilitating medical condition.

  • October 17, 2024

    Ex-Worker Says She Was Fired For Threatening EEOC Charge

    A logistics company was sued Wednesday in federal court by a former Georgia employee who alleges she was sexually harassed and mistreated by "aggressive and threatening" male co-workers and then fired after warning the company she would file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if things didn't improve.

  • October 17, 2024

    Ex-Genzyme Exec Says Anxiety Disclosure Led To Firing

    A former marketing director for Sanofi subsidiary Genzyme says he was fired on a pretext after disclosing that he suffers from anxiety, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Massachusetts state court.

  • October 17, 2024

    Disney Can't Get Quick Appeal In Actor's Political Firing Suit

    A California federal judge refused to sign off on Walt Disney Co.'s bid to immediately challenge a decision that kept a suit alive from a former Star Wars actor who said she was fired for expressing her political views, saying an appeal to the Ninth Circuit would be premature.

  • October 17, 2024

    EEOC Gets Judge To Revive Race Bias Suit He Tossed In June

    A Wisconsin federal judge said Thursday that he jumped the gun and overlooked Seventh Circuit precedent when he dismissed a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission race bias suit, reinstating the EEOC's claims that a plastics company failed to step in while a Black worker faced harassment.

  • October 17, 2024

    Ex-Defender Returns To 4th Circ. With Sex Bias Case

    A former North Carolina public defender appealed her bias case against the judiciary to the Fourth Circuit for a second time after a North Carolina federal judge refused to reconsider his ruling that she did not provide adequate notice to her ex-employer before filing suit.

Expert Analysis

  • What Texas Employers Should Know After PWFA Ruling

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    After a Texas federal judge recently enjoined federal agencies from enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act against the state of Texas, all employers must still remain sensitive to local, state and federal protections for pregnant workers, and proactive in their approach to pregnancy-related accommodations, says Maritza Sanchez at Phelps Dunbar.

  • AI In Performance Management: Mitigating Employer Risk

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    Companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools in performance management, exposing organizations to significant risks, which they can manage through employee training, bias assessments, and comprehensive policies and procedures related to the new technology, say Gregory Brown and Cindy Huang at Jackson Lewis.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.

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    A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • EEOC Case Reminds That Men Can Also Claim Pay Bias

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    The Maryland State Highway Administration recently settled U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that a male employee was paid less than his female colleagues, highlighting why employers should not focus on a particular protected class when it comes to assessing pay bias risk, say Barbara Grandjean and Audrey Merkel at Husch Blackwell.

  • Shaping Speech Policies After NLRB's BLM Protest Ruling

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    After the National Labor Relations Board decided last month that a Home Depot employee was protected by federal labor law when they wore a Black Lives Matter slogan on their apron, employers should consider four questions in order to mitigate legal risks associated with workplace political speech policies, say Louis Cannon and Cassandra Horton at Baker Donelson.

  • Avoiding Jurisdictional Risks From Execs' Remote Work

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    Following a California federal court's recent decision in Evans v. Cardlytics — where the case was remanded to state court because the company’s executives worked remotely in California — there are several steps employers can take to ensure they will not be exposed to unfavored jurisdictions, says Eric Fox at Quarles & Brady.

  • 11th Circ. FMLA Ruling Deepens Divide Over Causation

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent ruling in Lapham v. Walgreen distinguishes the circuit as the loudest advocate for the but-for causation standard for assessing Family and Medical Leave Act retaliation claims, though employers in other jurisdictions may encounter less favorable standards and the U.S. Supreme Court will likely have to address the circuit split eventually, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Handling Neurodivergence As The Basis Of Disability Claims

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    Three recent discrimination claims in Rhode Island and New Jersey show how allegations of adverse treatment of neurodivergent individuals will continue to be tested in court, so employers should create an environment that welcomes the disclosure of such conditions, says Ting Cheung at Sanford Heisler.

  • Employers Should Take Surgeon's Sex Bias Suit As A Warning

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    A Philadelphia federal jury's recent verdict in a sex bias suit over Thomas Jefferson University's inaction on a male plaintiff's sexual harassment complaint is a reminder to employers of all stripes about the importance of consistently applied protocols for handling complaints, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.

  • Eye On Compliance: Workplace March Madness Pools

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    With March Madness set to begin in a few weeks, employers should recognize that workplace sports betting is technically illegal, keeping federal and state gambling laws in mind when determining whether they will permit ever-popular bracket pools, says Laura Stutz at Wilson Elser.

  • Generative AI Adds Risk To Employee 'Self-Help' Discovery

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    Plaintiffs have long engaged in their own evidence gathering for claims against current or former employers, but as more companies implement generative AI tools, both the potential scope and the potential risks of such "self-help" discovery are rising quickly, says Nick Peterson at Wiley.

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Workplace AI Risks

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools penetrate workplaces, employers should incorporate sound AI policies and procedures in their handbooks in order to mitigate liability risks, maintain control of the technology, and protect their brands, says Laura Corvo at White and Williams.