Discrimination

  • February 06, 2025

    Fed. Worker Reps Slam 'Unfathomably Cruel' USAID Shutdown

    The Trump administration's illegal decision to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development has caused a global humanitarian crisis, cost thousands of Americans their jobs and threatens U.S. national security, groups representing federal employees and foreign service workers alleged in a federal lawsuit Thursday in Washington, D.C.

  • February 06, 2025

    Credit Union's Arb. Pact Not Unconscionable, Court Says

    A California state appeals court has reversed a ruling finding an arbitration agreement contained in a credit union's employment contract to be unconscionable, saying the JAMS rules incorporated in the pact permit an arbitrator to allow for necessary third-party discovery.

  • February 06, 2025

    Trump Creates DOJ Task Force Targeting 'Anti-Christian Bias'

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday establishing a U.S. Department of Justice task force to root out "anti-Christian bias" within federal agencies and prosecute vandalism and violence targeting churches and related religious organizations.

  • February 06, 2025

    Manager's Work, Not Gaza Posts, Led To Firing, Ill. City Says

    A former Evanston, Illinois, employee shouldn't be allowed to go to trial on claims that he was fired for publicly expressing sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza because evidence clearly proves his performance is what cost him his job, city officials argued Wednesday.

  • February 06, 2025

    DOJ To Weigh Criminal Action Against Cos. With DEI Policies

    The U.S. Department of Justice will consider bringing criminal and civil investigations against companies over their diversity, equity and inclusion policies, according to a new memorandum from Attorney General Pam Bondi.

  • February 06, 2025

    Trump's Trans Military Ban Violates Constitution, Suit Says

    A group of transgender service members and a human rights organization sued the Trump administration Thursday in Washington federal court, asserting his executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

  • February 06, 2025

    Teamsters Beat Agent's Bias And Retaliation Claims For Now

    A former Teamsters business agent fell short of proving her exclusion from a slate of candidates in an officers' election constituted age discrimination, retaliation and wrongful discharge, a California federal judge ruled Thursday, tossing the complaint but giving the former business agent an opportunity to refile it.

  • February 06, 2025

    Ex-Cornell Physics Prof Settles Title IX Suit Against School

    A former Cornell University professor settled his Title IX lawsuit against the school, the New Civil Liberties Alliance announced Thursday, ending a yearslong case in which the professor accused the school of sex bias linked to an investigation into a student's sexual misconduct allegation.

  • February 06, 2025

    10th Circ. Backs Hospital's Defeat Of Ex-Worker's ADA Suit

    The Tenth Circuit refused Thursday to reopen a former human resources worker's lawsuit claiming a Wyoming hospital accused her of being "manic" after she reported suspicions of unethical and illegal business practices, ruling her presuit discrimination charge didn't allege that the hospital considered her disabled.

  • February 06, 2025

    Ex-Worker Hits Pot Giant Cresco With Wrongful Firing Suit

    A former kitchen agent for Cresco Labs LLC is suing the cannabis giant in Illinois federal court, alleging she was wrongly fired after a workplace injury and was not afforded time off as required under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

  • February 06, 2025

    Gutted By Trump Executive Order, OFCCP Scrubs Its Website

    The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs quietly removed years of policy directives, conciliation agreements and guidance from its website, following President Donald Trump's rescission of a 60-year-old legal authority the agency used to stop federal contractors from discriminating against workers.

  • February 06, 2025

    6th Circ. Explores Avenues For Keeping Pronoun Suit In Court

    The Sixth Circuit zeroed in on nuances Thursday in a case brought by a physician's assistant who said she was unlawfully fired for refusing to use transgender and nonbinary patients' preferred pronouns, delving into various legal theories that might warrant keeping her religious bias suit out of arbitration.

  • February 06, 2025

    NJ Personal Injury Firm Hit With Bias Suit From Fired Atty

    A solo personal injury attorney is suing his former firm in New Jersey state court alleging that he was discriminated against based on his Ecuadorian heritage and because of his requests for accommodations when he became a father.

  • February 06, 2025

    Jay-Z Gets Nod To Withdraw Sanctions Bid Against Buzbee

    Rapper Jay-Z has dropped his sanctions bid against Texas attorney Tony Buzbee for filing a lawsuit that claims Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs raped a 13-year-old more than 20 years ago, accusations he has called "knowingly false."

  • February 06, 2025

    Trump's Federal Worker Buyout Plan Put On Hold

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday put on hold the Trump administration's "deferred resignation" program for federal employees, delaying the deadline for workers to accept the offer until Monday while the court weighs the legality of the move.

  • February 05, 2025

    Cuomo Faces Skeptical Panel In AG Document Lawsuit

    Counsel for former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced a doubtful appellate panel Wednesday, who questioned whether the disgraced executive had jumped the gun in suing Attorney General Letitia James for records from the state's sexual harassment investigation against him that are still being reviewed and produced.

  • February 05, 2025

    Colo. University Hit With Suit Over 'Culture Of Chauvinism'

    A doctor and former genetics researcher at the University of Colorado sued the institution in Denver federal court on Tuesday alleging her supervisor created a "culture of chauvinism and misogyny" and that she was fired and badmouthed throughout the industry after complaining.

  • February 05, 2025

    Musk Can't Access DOL Data, Labor Groups Say

    The AFL-CIO, the Economic Policy Institute and four unions sued the U.S. Department of Labor and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency in D.C. federal court Wednesday, seeking a temporary restraining order to stop DOL leadership from complying with any attempt by DOGE to access DOL data.

  • February 05, 2025

    5th Circ. Zooms In On Vision Test In Rail Worker's ADA Fight

    A Fifth Circuit panel peppered lawyers with questions Wednesday about corrective lenses and administrative procedures, delving into the process around what a colorblind BNSF Railway Co. conductor alleges was an unlawful discriminatory vision test.

  • February 05, 2025

    Mich. State Settles Former Biz School Dean's Removal Suit

    Michigan State University has settled allegations that its senior leadership fired the dean of the Eli Broad College of Business and intentionally defamed him in an effort to remove him from contention as a possible candidate for the university's next president.

  • February 05, 2025

    Data Analytics Co. Can't Dodge Ex-Worker's Trans Bias Suit

    A financial and data analytics firm can't beat a former content editor's lawsuit claiming she was fired because she is a transgender woman in her 70s, a California federal judge ruled, saying a jury should weigh the company's explanation that her termination was part of broader cuts.

  • February 05, 2025

    Honeywell Settles Black Ex-Marketing Manager's Bias Suit

    Honeywell struck a deal with a Black former global marketing manager to close her suit claiming she was laid off after complaining that her white manager mistreated women and people of color, according to a Wednesday filing in North Carolina federal court.

  • February 05, 2025

    Worker, Nonprofit Mental Health Co. Agree To End Work Row

    A former case manager sanctioned for faking evidence and the nonprofit mental health and addiction treatment center she accused of not paying full wages told a North Carolina federal court they agreed to end the case a month before the trial was set to start.

  • February 05, 2025

    Blake Lively Sued By PR Rep Over 'It Ends With Us' Claims

    Another front has opened in the messy legal drama over the movie "It Ends With Us," as an Austin-based public relations consultant filed a defamation suit in Texas federal court alleging Blake Lively falsely roped him into her headline-making sexual harassment and retaliation claims.

  • February 05, 2025

    Ex-Atlanta Private School Teacher Drops Race Bias Suit

    A Georgia educator and the affluent Atlanta private school she sued over alleged racial discrimination by administrators agreed Tuesday to end their litigation after a federal magistrate judge previously recommended that her claims be tossed.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Federal Salary History Ban's Reach Is Limited

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    Though a newly effective Office of Personnel Management rule takes important steps by banning federal employers from considering job applicants' nonfederal salary histories, the rule's narrow applicability and overconfidence in the existing system's fairness will likely not end persistent pay inequities, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.

  • 2nd Circ. Hostile Workplace Ruling Widens Arbitration Pitfalls

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision, affirming the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act applies to a worker whose workplace hostility claims arose before the law’s 2022 enactment, widens the scope of the law — and the risks of unenforceable arbitration agreements for employers, say attorneys at Hinshaw.

  • 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.