Discrimination

  • September 24, 2025

    6th Circ. Upends Ford's Win In Muslim Ex-Worker's Bias Suit

    The Sixth Circuit reinstated a bias and retaliation suit Wednesday from a Muslim and Middle Eastern engineer who claimed Ford fired him due to his race, religion and national origin, finding the former worker put forward enough detail showing he may have been sacked for complaining about mistreatment.

  • September 24, 2025

    Ex-Conductor Can't Sue BNSF A Third Time After $1.3M Win

    An Illinois federal judge has ruled that a former conductor can't proceed with a third racial discrimination lawsuit against BNSF Railway claiming he was "blackballed" from future employment at BNSF and other railroads, because he has already litigated how BNSF handled his dismissal and was compensated more than $1.3 million in damages.

  • September 24, 2025

    DOJ Religious Telework Memo Reflects Post-Pandemic Norms

    A recent Trump administration memo clarifying that federal employees can request to telework for religious reasons will likely reverberate in the private sector, where employers have already seen a surge in faith-based accommodation requests in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision, experts say.

  • September 24, 2025

    11th Circ. Backs Staffing Co. In Athletic Trainer's Sex Bias Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit backed a staffing agency's win over a lawsuit alleging it transferred an athletic trainer because a high school's male coaches didn't want to work with a woman, ruling Wednesday that the company didn't have a responsibility to probe the rationale behind a client's transfer request.

  • September 24, 2025

    Trans Youth Care Ban Discriminatory, Mo. High Court Hears

    The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on a law that bans gender-affirming care for minors and restricts Medicaid coverage for transgender care at any age, but the justices gave little indication of how they might rule.

  • September 24, 2025

    4th Circ. Kicks Trans Care Exclusion Suits Back To Trial Court

    A pair of suits challenging health plan coverage exclusions on gender-affirming care for minors are headed to district court after the Fourth Circuit vacated decisions finding those policies discriminatory, in line with a U.S. Supreme Court directive to revisit the cases in light of new precedent.

  • September 24, 2025

    PeopleFacts To Pay $2.4M In Background Check Settlement

    PeopleFacts has agreed to pay $2.4 million to job seekers whose criminal history was shared with employers without a notice required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, according to a motion filed in Michigan federal court.

  • September 24, 2025

    EEOC Hits Fla. Dental Lab With Pregnancy Bias Suit

    A Fort Lauderdale, Florida, dental restoration company violated federal law by firing a newly hired office assistant just days after learning she was pregnant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told a federal court Wednesday.

  • September 24, 2025

    Ex-Bank Compliance Execs' Whistleblower Suit Tossed

    A New York federal judge has dismissed whistleblower and discrimination claims brought by former Shinhan Bank America compliance executives against the bank, finding that they failed to follow the required administrative steps before filing suit and haven't demonstrated that the bank was aware of their allegedly whistleblower-protected activity, among other things.

  • September 24, 2025

    9th Circ. Revives Sex Harassment Suit Against Wash. Sheriff

    The Ninth Circuit reopened a lawsuit alleging that a Washington sheriff's department failed to stop a deputy sheriff who coerced a woman he had previously arrested into a seven-year sexual relationship, ruling that each alleged instance of sexual misconduct restarted the statute-of-limitations clock.

  • September 23, 2025

    UC Researchers Win Expanded Injunction Against Grant Cuts

    A California federal judge Monday issued another preliminary injunction ordering the Trump administration to reinstate grants awarded to University of California researchers, this time resurrecting grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Institutes of Health.

  • September 23, 2025

    FBI Agent's Firing Didn't Violate 1st Amendment, Court Rules

    A D.C. federal judge granted the U.S. government a summary judgment win Tuesday over a former FBI agent who said he was wrongly fired after his text messages disparaging President Donald Trump became public, agreeing with the agency that avoiding the appearance of bias outweighed other concerns.

  • September 23, 2025

    Jersey City, Mayor Pare Back Fired Aide's Retaliation Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge knocked two whistleblower claims off a lawsuit brought against Jersey City and its mayor, Stephen Fulop, by one of his former aides who alleged he was dismissed for questioning the city's investment in cryptocurrency and for supporting his conservative sister's political campaign.

  • September 23, 2025

    Ex-Discover Financial Exec Can Pursue Equity Clawback Suit

    An Illinois federal judge has rejected a bid to toss a retired Discover Financial Services executive's age and gender discrimination lawsuit, finding she has sufficiently alleged at this point that she faced disparate treatment tied to her sex and that Discover's arguments against her age discrimination claim don't hold weight.

  • September 23, 2025

    Ex-Prison Guard Loses Bias Suit Against Union For Last Time

    A Chicago-area former prison guard didn't back up her religious discrimination lawsuit against a Teamsters local with facts, an Illinois federal judge ruled, tossing the suit with prejudice after finding that her latest amended complaint was still too thin.

  • September 23, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Religious Bias Suit Over COVID Tests

    A split Ninth Circuit panel backed the dismissal of a religious bias suit Tuesday from a Christian hospital worker who said she was fired for objecting to COVID-19 nasal testing, ruling she hadn't made a connection between her opposition to testing and her faith.

  • September 23, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Upend Retrial Order In UPS Race Bias Suit

    The Ninth Circuit backed a lower court's decision to order a new trial in a Black former UPS employee's race bias suit, saying Tuesday the district court didn't err when it determined that a $238 million jury verdict was tainted by misconduct from the worker's counsel.

  • September 23, 2025

    1st Circ. Revives Fired Airport Worker's Retaliation Suit

    A First Circuit panel has reinstated a retaliation claim against a Massachusetts-based regional airline accused of wrongfully firing an injured worker several months after he reported his injury to Puerto Rico's workers' compensation program.

  • September 23, 2025

    Nonprofit Can't Sink Christian Worker's Pronoun Policy Suit

    A disability advocacy group can't nix a Christian worker's claims that she was fired in retaliation for seeking an exemption from a policy mandating that co-workers call each other by their preferred pronouns, a California federal judge ruled Tuesday, saying her allegations are detailed enough to remain in court.

  • September 23, 2025

    Ex-Verizon Employee's Race Bias Suit Over Slur Alive For Now

    A fired white Verizon employee presented enough evidence to show that he was treated differently from a black employee even though both used the N-word, a New York federal judge said Tuesday, adopting a magistrate judge's recommendation to keep the racial bias claim going.

  • September 23, 2025

    Meta Foiled Man's Disability Leave, Caregiving Time, Suit Says

    Meta failed to accommodate an employee who had disabilities and didn't allow him time off to take care of his terminally ill father in Tel Aviv, a suit filed in California state court claims.

  • September 23, 2025

    2nd Circ. Puts Cop's Harassment Claims Back On Track

    The Second Circuit restored claims Tuesday from a former police officer who alleged that a male colleague regularly subjected her to unwanted touching, saying she'd offered enough detail for a jury to potentially find she'd been sexually harassed.

  • September 23, 2025

    EX-CTA Worker's $425K Vaccine Bias Award Capped At $300K

    An Illinois federal judge lowered a former Chicago Transit Authority employee's $425,000 jury award to $300,000 Tuesday for the ex-worker's claim that he was wrongly fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, entering a judgment the judge said he'll later amend with awards that include back and front pay.

  • September 23, 2025

    Former NJ Workers' Comp Judge's Firing Suit Trimmed

    New Jersey has been granted partial summary judgment in its defense of a suit from a former workers' compensation judge who alleges that she was unconstitutionally removed from her job, with a state judge tossing her due process claims but letting certain discrimination claims proceed. 

  • September 23, 2025

    Bipartisan House Reps Float Bill Protecting Older Job Seekers

    House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle said they have introduced legislation that would amend the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to state explicitly that it shields job applicants as well as employees.

Expert Analysis

  • What Employers Should Consider When Drafting AI Policies

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    As generative artificial intelligence continues to evolve and transform the workplace, employers should examine six issues when creating their corporate AI policies in order to balance AI's efficiencies with the oversight needed to prevent potential biases and legal pitfalls, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

  • Eye On Compliance: When Calif. Jobs Require Driver Licenses

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    With a California law banning unnecessarily requiring job applicants to have driver's licenses rolling out Jan. 1, employers should take to heart the law's goal of preventing discriminatory barriers while they assess and revise their employment materials for compliance, says Ani Khachatryan at Wilson Elser.

  • Ring In The New Year With An Updated Employee Handbook

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    One of the best New Year's resolutions employers can make is to update their employee handbooks, given that a handbook can mitigate, or even prevent, costly litigation as long as it accounts for recent changes in laws, court rulings and agency decisions, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.

  • 5 Employer Defenses To Military Status Discrimination Claims

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    A Colorado federal court's recent ruling, finding a Navy reservist wasn't denied promotion at his civilian job due to antimilitary bias, highlights several defenses employers can use to counter claims of violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, say attorneys at Littler Mendelson.

  • Justices Mull Sex-Based Classification In Trans Law Case

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti this week, it appears that the fate of the Tennessee law at the center of the case — a law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender adolescents — will hinge on whether the majority read the statute as imposing a sex-based classification, says Alexandra Crandall at Dickinson Wright.

  • Pa. Ruling Highlights Challenges Of Employer Arb. Appeals

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    A Pennsylvania federal court's recent ruling in Welch Foods v. General Teamsters Local Union No. 397 demonstrates the inherent difficulties employers face when seeking relief from labor arbitration decisions through appeals in court — and underscores how employers are faced with often conflicting legal priorities, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 7 Ways To Prepare For An I-9 Audit Or Immigration Raid

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    Because immigration enforcement is likely to surge under the upcoming Trump administration, employers should take steps to ensure their staff is trained in employment eligibility verification requirements and what to do in the event of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement I-9 audit or workplace raid, say attorneys at Littler.

  • California Supreme Court's Year In Review

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    Attorneys at Horvitz & Levy highlight notable decisions on major questions from the California Supreme Court's last term, including voter initiatives, hostile work environment and the economic loss rule.

  • Disentangling Various Forms Of Workplace Discrimination

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    Pay inequity can be missed where it exists and misidentified due to incorrect statistics, leaving individuals to face multiple facets of discrimination connected by a common root cause, meaning correct identification and measurement is crucial, says Daniel Levy at Advanced Analytical.

  • Key Requirements In New Maryland Pay Transparency Laws

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    Although several jurisdictions now require pay transparency in job advertisements, Maryland's new law is among the broadest in the country, both in terms of what is required and the scope of its applicability, says Sarah Belger at Quarles & Brady.

  • Lessons From EEOC Case Of Fla. Worker Fired After Stillbirth

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    A recent federal court settlement between a Florida resort and a fired line cook shows that the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission sees stillbirth as protected under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, also providing four other important lessons, says Gordon Berger at Pierson Ferdinand.

  • Advising Employers As AI Meets DEI And Discrimination

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Though companies can use artificial intelligence tools to develop more diverse and inclusive workforces, counsel should also prepare employers for how AI can stymie these efforts, provoke discrimination claims and complicate resulting litigation, says Emily Schifter at Troutman Pepper.

  • A Look At The Hefty Demands In Calif. Employer AI Draft Regs

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    California's draft regulations on artificial intelligence use in employment decisions show that the California Privacy Protection Agency is positioning itself as a de facto AI regulator for the state, which isn't waiting around for federal legislation, says Lily Li at Metaverse Law.