Discrimination

  • May 15, 2025

    Harvard Alum Drops Antisemitism Suit Over Campus Incidents

    A former Harvard University student has voluntarily dismissed his suit over the Ivy League school's handling of antisemitic incidents on campus, according to a stipulation of dismissal filed Thursday in Massachusetts federal court.

  • May 15, 2025

    'It Ends With Us' Producers Must Hand Over Net Worth Docs

    Justin Baldoni and other producers of "It Ends With Us" must turn over to Blake Lively financial records showing their net worth in the legal battle between the film's stars, a New York federal judge has ruled, saying the information is fair game since Baldoni's side claims to have lost $400 million due to Lively's alleged smear campaign.

  • May 15, 2025

    SEC Cuts $512K Deal To End Atty's Racial Bias Suit

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to pay $512,500 to end a former commission lawyer's discrimination claims alleging she was denied a promotion due to her race and age, according to court documents filed in Pennsylvania federal court on Thursday.

  • May 15, 2025

    3 Things To Know As Minneapolis Overhauls Its Anti-Bias Law

    Minneapolis lawmakers recently approved a sweeping revamp of the city's civil rights statute, bolstering safeguards for workers with criminal histories, prohibiting discrimination based on body size and making a slew of other revisions that expand legal pathways for workers to challenge bias. Here are three things employers and workers should know before those changes kick in this summer.

  • May 15, 2025

    4th Circ. Says DEA Worker's Own Behavior Dooms Bias Suit

    The Fourth Circuit on Thursday backed the dismissal of a white Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor's suit claiming that her Black bosses discriminated and retaliated against her for complaining that they showed favoritism toward Black workers, saying her own poor leadership was to blame for her reassignment and suspension.

  • May 15, 2025

    Colo. Chief Sacked Firefighters Behind Union Drive, Suit Says

    Two former captains and a statewide union sued a Southwest Colorado fire district and its chief Thursday for allegedly stopping a union campaign in its tracks by retaliating against organizers, claiming the chief fired the captains after they organized a vote showing nearly three-quarters of workers backed unionization.

  • May 15, 2025

    7th Circ. Doubts Officers' Vaccine Reporting Exemption Claim

    A Seventh Circuit panel seemed skeptical Thursday that a group of COVID-19 vaccine-exempt police officers in Chicago should be allowed to pursue religious discrimination claims targeting the suspensions and other adverse actions they faced for not reporting their vaccination status in the city's data portal. 

  • May 15, 2025

    Wells Fargo Opposes Atty Fee Bid After $22M ADA Verdict

    Wells Fargo said it is "vigorously" contesting an attorney's request for at least $1.4 million in fees after winning a $22.1 million verdict in an Americans with Disabilities Act case against the bank, telling the court the request to double the lodestar amount is unsupported.

  • May 15, 2025

    Colorado Hog Farm Inks Deal In EEOC Sex Harassment Suit

    A Colorado hog farm has agreed to pay $330,000 to close a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming it failed to take action when female workers complained that male managers propositioned them for sex and walked in on them changing.

  • May 15, 2025

    Plaintiff's 'Total Victory' Forces End To Southwest Bias Suit

    A Texas federal judge intends to issue a final judgment in a nonprofit's suit challenging an award program for Hispanic employees of Southwest Airlines Co., saying the "obstinate plaintiff" has already achieved total victory in the suit.

  • May 15, 2025

    9th Circ. Questions University's Limits On Professor's Speech

    Two Ninth Circuit judges cast doubt on the University of Washington's defense in a First Amendment lawsuit on Thursday, questioning why the college would remove a professor's parody of a Native American land acknowledgment from his class syllabus while permitting him to broadcast the same opinions elsewhere in the academic setting.

  • May 15, 2025

    Full 9th Circ. Affirms BNSF Railway's Win In Retaliation Suit

    The full Ninth Circuit upheld a win for BNSF Railway on Thursday in a now-deceased conductor's lawsuit alleging he was fired in retaliation for testing train cars' brakes, finding the railroad had met the high bar required for lawful firing under whistleblower protection law. 

  • May 15, 2025

    High Court's Muldrow Ruling Gets Cop's Bias Suit Revived

    The Third Circuit reopened a former Philadelphia police officer's lawsuit claiming he was unlawfully transferred to a less prestigious division because he was in his 60s, saying the case needed another look based on the U.S. Supreme Court's clarification of the standard for workplace discrimination claims.

  • May 15, 2025

    Ala. Jury Awards Industrial Worker $640K In Race Bias Case

    An Alabama federal jury has awarded $640,000 in damages to a millwright who said he was called a racist slur, demoted and then fired within months of being hired by an industrial services company.

  • May 15, 2025

    Judicial Aide's NY Sex Abuse Suit May Survive, Panel Hints

    A New York state appellate panel has voiced doubts that a former judicial secretary's sex abuse lawsuit should have been dismissed, challenging the state court system's arguments that it didn't employ her and thus can't be held liable for any harms she suffered.

  • May 15, 2025

    EEOC Says Maui Hotel Owner's Sex Harassment 'Rampant'

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission slapped a Hawaii hotel with a lawsuit Thursday accusing its owner of widespread, long-running sexual harassment that allegedly included sexual advances, inappropriate touching and demands for massages while he was naked.  

  • May 15, 2025

    5th Circ. Affirms Nix Of BNSF Ex-Conductor's Vision Bias Suit

    The Fifth Circuit upheld BNSF Railway Co.'s defeat of a former conductor's suit claiming he was fired because of his color vision deficiency, saying his inability to obtain certification under railroad safety laws made him unqualified for the job.

  • May 15, 2025

    House Bill Aims To Nix FMLA Leave Cap For Married Couples

    A bipartisan group of U.S. House members floated a bill that aims to strike a provision from the Family and Medical Leave Act that limits leave for married couples who work for the same employer.

  • May 14, 2025

    7th Circ. Partially Revives Pregnancy Bias Suit Against Ill. DHS

    A Seventh Circuit panel on Wednesday partially reversed an Illinois federal court's decision giving the Illinois Department of Human Services a win on two former workers' claims of illegal pregnancy-related firings, saying that there are still open factual questions as to one worker.

  • May 14, 2025

    Risks Abound For Higher Ed As Top Court Ruling Turns 2

    Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education admissions, schools around the country have been looking for innovative ways to achieve diversity on campus amid constant threats of additional litigation that could make them the next high-profile high court case.

  • May 14, 2025

    11th Circ. Won't Reopen White DOD Worker's Race Bias Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit refused to revive a commissary worker's lawsuit claiming the U.S. Department of Defense threatened to suspend her over a Black colleague's false accusations that she'd used a racial slur, ruling Wednesday that she failed to show the agency proposed the discipline because she's white.

  • May 14, 2025

    8th Circ. Raises Safety Questions In Deaf Driver's EEOC Case

    An Eighth Circuit panel fired off questions to a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawyer Wednesday about the agency's trial win on behalf of a deaf truck driver applicant, homing in on the trucking company's contention that safety concerns were behind its decision not to hire him. 

  • May 14, 2025

    7th Circ. Judge Skeptical Of Bias In Exxon Worker's Firing

    A Seventh Circuit judge on Wednesday questioned what evidence a former employee asking the court to revive her discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against ExxonMobil had to refute the company's assertion that it fired her after she behaved unprofessionally and stormed out of a negative performance review.

  • May 14, 2025

    Black Worker Says GM, UAW Failed To Stop Harassment

    General Motors and United Auto Workers failed to step in after a Black employee complained that a white colleague began stalking her after she started dating her ex-boyfriend and instead forced the Black worker to move departments, a lawsuit filed in New York federal court said.

  • May 14, 2025

    USPS Must Cough Up Discipline Data, NLRB Judge Says

    The U.S. Postal Service violated federal labor law by withholding disciplinary records that a union needed to resolve a grievance at a facility in Benton Harbor, Michigan, a National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled, ordering the Postal Service to hand over the records within two weeks.

Expert Analysis

  • 10 Steps To Reduce Risks From AI Employment Tools

    Author Photo

    In light of the White House’s recent executive order on responsible use of artificial intelligence, companies using AI tools to make employment decisions should take steps to understand and mitigate the legal risks posed by these products and keep up with the rapidly evolving regulations that govern them, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • What Employers Can Learn From EEOC's 2023 ADA Priorities

    Author Photo

    Between a spike in Americans with Disabilities Act suits filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2023 and the agency’s newly released priorities, the EEOC has provided employers a preview of several ADA issues — like web accessibility, pregnancy discrimination and inflexible policies — it will likely focus enforcement on next year, says Stacy Bunck at Ogletree.

  • Eye On Compliance: EEOC Focus On Workplace AI

    Author Photo

    With the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s recent guidance and enforcement focus on the use of artificial intelligence tools during the hiring process and other job-related assessments, companies should be mindful that anti-discrimination laws apply equally to both human- and AI-generated decisions, say Laura Stutz and Lisa Ackerman at Wilson Elser.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Sets Bostock, Faith Exemption Up For Review

    Author Photo

    The Fifth Circuit's Braidwood v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decision could tee up U.S. Supreme Court review of whether employing an individual to whose protected class the employer objects infringes on the employer's religious beliefs, potentially narrowing LGBTQ worker protections from the high court's 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision, says Adam Grogan at Bell Law.

  • Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave

    Author Photo

    To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.

  • Why Employers Should Refrain From 'Quiet Firing'

    Author Photo

    While quiet firing — when an employer deliberately makes working conditions intolerable with the goal of forcing an employee to quit — has recently been identified in the news as a new trend, such constructive discharge tactics have been around for ages, and employers would do well to remember that, comparatively, direct firings may provide more legal protection, says Robin Shea at Constangy.

  • 5 New Calif. Laws Employers Need To Know

    Author Photo

    Now is a good time for employers to evaluate personnel rules to keep pace with California’s newly adopted employee protections, which go into effect early next year and include laws regarding reproductive loss leave, cannabis use, workplace violence prevention and noncompete agreements, say attorneys at Farella Braun.

  • 3 Employer Strategies To Streamline Mass Arbitrations

    Author Photo

    Workers under arbitration agreements have gained an edge on their employers by filing floods of tedious and expensive individualized claims, but companies can adapt to this new world of mass arbitration by applying several new strategies that may streamline the dispute-resolution process, says Michael Strauss at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • How AI 'Cultural Fit' Assessments Can Be Analyzed For Bias

    Author Photo

    Attorneys at Sanford Heisler explore how the use of artificial intelligence to assess workplace cultural fit may provide employees with increased opportunities to challenge biased hiring practices, and employers with more potential to mitigate against bias in algorithmic evaluations.

  • High Court's Old, Bad Stats Analysis Can Miss Discrimination

    Author Photo

    Courts and practitioners should reconsider a common statistical test for evidence of employment discrimination, created by the U.S. Supreme Court for its 1977 Castaneda and Hazelwood cases, because its “two or three standard deviations” criteria stems from a misunderstanding of statistical methods that can dramatically minimize the actual prevalence of discrimination, says Daniel Levy at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group.

  • Transparency And Explainability Are Critical To AI Compliance

    Author Photo

    Although there is not yet a comprehensive law governing artificial intelligence, regulators have tools to hold businesses accountable, and companies need to focus on ensuring that consumers and key stakeholders understand how their AI systems operate and make decisions, say Chanley Howell and Lauren Hudon at Foley & Lardner.

  • In Focus At The EEOC: Emerging And Developing Issues

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's recently finalized strategic enforcement plan highlights how the agency will prioritize its limited resources over the next four years, and the most notable emerging issues include ensuring protections for pregnant workers and those dealing with long-term COVID-19 effects, says Jim Paretti at Littler.

  • Employer Takeaways From 2nd Circ. Equal Pay Ruling

    Author Photo

    The Second Circuit 's recent decision in Eisenhauer v. Culinary Institute of America reversed a long-held understanding of the Equal Pay Act, ultimately making it easier for employers to defend against equal pay claims brought under federal law, but it is not a clear escape hatch for employers, say Thelma Akpan and Katelyn McCombs at Littler.