Discrimination

  • August 04, 2025

    NYU Must Pay Fired Doc $4M In Disability Bias Suit, Jury Says

    An ex-New York University doctor nabbed a $4 million trial win in his disability bias case claiming he was fired after his employer denied his request to work from home so he could recover from a COVID-19 infection that left him in a coma for nearly two months.

  • August 04, 2025

    Rising Star: McDermott's Chris Braham

    Chris Braham of McDermott Will & Emery LLP helped Circle K defeat a Fair Credit Reporting Act case that went to a California appellate court and helped Darden Restaurants survive an advocacy organization's discrimination suit, earning him a spot among the employment law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 04, 2025

    Nespresso Accused Of Racial Bias In Ex-Employee's Lawsuit

    A Black woman who worked at Nespresso for more than a decade has sued her former employer in Illinois federal court, saying she was routinely denied promotions and subjected to comments about her "messy" hair and having the "loudest voice in the room," but was still trotted out to work on the Nestle subsidiary's diversity initiatives.

  • August 04, 2025

    Crane Co. Settles With EEOC To End Race Bias Claims

    A Texas-based crane service provider will pay $525,000 to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it allowed a field manager to use racial slurs toward Black employees and forced out a white worker who complained, according to federal court filings.

  • August 04, 2025

    Arnold & Porter Expands On West Coast With K&L Gates Team

    Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP is continuing to grow on the West Coast, announcing Monday that it has added seven lawyers from K&L Gates LLP to its newly launched Seattle office and one to its Los Angeles location.

  • August 04, 2025

    Religious Carveout Sinks Nurse's Vax Bias Suit, 8th Circ. Says

    The Eighth Circuit refused to reinstate a religious discrimination suit from a nurse who said a Catholic hospital unlawfully fired her for rejecting its COVID-19 vaccination mandate, ruling the institution is shielded from liability under Title VII's exception for religious organizations.

  • August 01, 2025

    9th Circ. Lifts Order Halting Trump From Curbing Fed Unions

    The Ninth Circuit on Aug. 1 granted the Trump administration's bid to halt an injunction blocking enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive order axing labor contracts covering agencies with "national security" aims, saying in a published opinion that the government was likely to succeed against six unions' First Amendment retaliation claim.

  • August 01, 2025

    Wheeling & Appealing: Midyear Highlights For Every Circuit

    In this special edition of Wheeling & Appealing, we're spotlighting key decisions and developments in every circuit court during the first half of 2025, while also previewing August's most intriguing oral arguments, including a remarkably "fierce" showdown between Edible Arrangements and 1-800-Flowers with millions of dollars in attorney fees on the line.

  • August 01, 2025

    En Banc 9th Circ. Backs LA Schools In Vax Mandate Fight

    A majority en banc Ninth Circuit has affirmed a lower court's decision upholding Los Angeles Unified School District's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees, while two partially dissenting judges disagreed with the majority's conclusion that the policy passes constitutional muster.

  • August 01, 2025

    8th Circ. Backs U. Of Nebraska In ADHD Disability Bias Suit

    The Eighth Circuit backed the dismissal Friday of an ex-information technology worker's suit claiming the University of Nebraska fired him for seeking accommodations for his attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ruling he failed to show his condition, rather than a violation of school policy, caused his termination.

  • August 01, 2025

    4 Arguments Bias Attorneys Should Watch In August

    The Fifth Circuit will consider reinstating a $70 million verdict in favor of workers who accused a telecommunications company of race discrimination, while the Ninth Circuit will tackle a religious bias case over a vaccine mandate, a legal battle over attorney fees and a separate religious discrimination case over anti-LGBTQ+ comments. Here are four argument sessions discrimination attorneys should keep tabs on this month.

  • August 01, 2025

    NJ Town Faces Whistleblower Suit Over Immigration Policies

    A former New Jersey township manager has claimed in state court that he was the target of retaliation and discrimination after opposing a set of local ordinances that he said would have unlawfully targeted immigrants and enabled racial profiling.

  • August 01, 2025

    7th Circ. Backs Prison Warden's Firing Over Facebook Memes

    The Seventh Circuit has refused to revive a deputy prison warden's suit claiming he was terminated in retaliation for sharing memes online denigrating Muslims, Black people, liberals and the LGBTQ community and calling the Confederate flag "our flag," saying the corrections department's interest as a public employer outweighs his speech interests.

  • August 01, 2025

    Calif. Forecast: Toxicology Co. Wants Wage Claims Arbitrated

    In the coming week, attorneys should watch for arguments about whether a proposed wage and hour class action against a drug and alcohol testing company should be sent to arbitration or back to state court. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • August 01, 2025

    3rd Circ. Won't Revive Age Bias Suit Over COVID Layoffs

    The Third Circuit declined to reinstate a suit accusing a marketing firm of slating a worker for layoff because of her age, saying she failed to rebut the company's argument that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the layoffs.

  • August 01, 2025

    Vegas Casinos Settle EEOC Vax Exception Charges

    Two Las Vegas resorts and casinos struck deals with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to settle claims that they shirked anti-bias laws by refusing to grant religious accommodations related to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the agency announced.

  • August 01, 2025

    NY Forecast: Judge Weighs Tossing Hospital Retaliation Suit

    This week, a New York federal judge will consider tossing a suit brought by a former administrator at Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital who claims she was fired for complaining about sexual harassment she faced from a co-worker.

  • July 31, 2025

    'It Ends With Us' Coverage Suit Opens New Front In Legal War

    The decision by Justin Baldoni's insurer to seek relief from defending the "It Ends With Us" actor and his associates from co-star Blake Lively's sexual harassment claims has legal experts raising their eyebrows, as they observe strange circumstances mixed with common coverage issues.

  • July 31, 2025

    GAO Says VA Not Monitoring All Whistleblower Settlements

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report Thursday that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' lacks information on all settlement agreements reached in whistleblower retaliation cases involving VA employees due to lack of coordination between agencies. 

  • July 31, 2025

    Ex-FDIC Chair 'Livid' Over Toxic Workplace Claims, OIG Says

    An investigation by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s inspector general has found evidence that former Chair Martin Gruenberg and four unnamed ex-senior officials "personally engaged in some degree of inappropriate workplace conduct," in the latest report on the sexual harassment and toxic workplace scandal that erupted into public view nearly two years ago.

  • July 31, 2025

    Senate Confirms EEOC Leader Lucas For Fresh Term

    The U.S. Senate voted on party lines Thursday to confirm acting U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas for a fresh five-year term, clearing the way for her to continue recalibrating the agency's work to match President Donald Trump's agenda.

  • July 31, 2025

    NJ Town Knocks Out Worker's $1.6M Disability Bias Win

    A New Jersey appellate court scrapped a $1.6 million verdict Thursday for a township employee who said she was discriminated and retaliated against for taking leave to treat her anxiety, ruling the evidence presented at trial didn't justify the damages award.

  • July 31, 2025

    EEOC Says Hospital Wrong To Fire Worker Allergic To Vaccine

    A hospital violated federal disability law when it fired a worker in its insurance department who didn't get the COVID-19 vaccine because she was allergic to it, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in Illinois federal court Thursday.

  • July 31, 2025

    Seattle Sues Trump Administration Over Anti-DEI Grant Terms

    The city of Seattle sued the Trump administration in Washington federal court on Thursday, targeting two executive orders that require federal funding recipients to adopt the president's stances on diversity efforts and gender or risk losing money for a range of critical causes.

  • July 31, 2025

    6th Circ. Hints White Worker Lost Chance For Strong Bias Suit

    There are strong indicators that the University of Toledo sacked a white human resources employee to shield it from racism allegations, two Sixth Circuit judges agreed Thursday, but they said the evidence is of little use since no race discrimination claim was brought in the case before them.

Expert Analysis

  • What's At Stake In High Court Transgender Care Suit

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    The outcome of U.S. v. Skrmetti will have critical implications for the rights of transgender youth and their access to gender-affirming care, and will likely affect other areas of law and policy involving transgender individuals, including education, employment, healthcare and civil rights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Determining What 'I Don't Feel Safe' Means In The Workplace

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    When an employee tells an employer "I don't feel safe," the phrase can have different meanings, so employment lawyers must adequately investigate to identify which meaning applies — and a cursory review and dismissal of the situation may not be a sufficient defense in case of future legal proceedings, says Karen Elliott at FordHarrison.

  • How EEOC Enforcement Priorities May Change Under Trump

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    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has already been rocked by the Trump administration's dramatic changes in personnel and policy, which calls into question how the agency may shift its direction from the priorities set forth in its five-year strategic enforcement plan in 2023, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Back To Basics After Admin Change

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    Having an up-to-date employee handbook is more critical now than ever, given the recent change in administration, and employers should understand their benefits and risks, including how they can limit employers’ liability and help retain employers’ rights, say Kasey Cappellano and Meaghan Gandy at Kutak Rock.

  • What Axed Title IX Gender Identity Rule Means For Higher Ed

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    Following a Kentucky federal court's recent decision in State of Tennessee v. Cardona to strike down a Biden-era rule that expanded the definition of Title IX to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity, institutions of higher education should prepare to reimplement policies that comply with the reinstated 2020 rule, say attorneys at Venable.

  • A Path Forward For Cos. Amid Trump's Anti-DEIA Efforts

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    Given the Trump administration’s recent efforts targeting corporate diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs — including threatening possible criminal prosecution — companies should carefully tailor their DEIA initiatives to comply with both the letter and the spirit of antidiscrimination law, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Workforce Data Collection Considerations After DEI Order

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    Following President Donald Trump's executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, employers should balance the benefits of collecting demographic data with the risk of violating the order’s prohibition on "illegal DEI," say Lynn Clements at Berkshire Associates, David Cohen at DCI Consulting and Victoria Lipnic at Resolution Economics.

  • How DOGE's Severance Plan May Affect Federal Employees

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    President Donald Trump's administration, working through the Department of Government Efficiency, recently offered a severance package to nearly all of the roughly 2 million federal employees, but unanswered questions about the offer, coupled with several added protections for government workers, led to fewer accepted offers than expected, says Aaron Peskin at Kang Haggerty.

  • Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises

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    “No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.

  • 10 Issues To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting

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    This year, in addition to evergreen developments driven by national security priorities, disruptive new technologies and competition with rival powers, federal contractors will see significant disruptions driven by the new administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, regulation and the size of the federal workforce, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Undoing An American Ideal Of Fairness

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    President Donald Trump’s orders attacking birthright citizenship, civil rights education, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs threaten hard-won constitutional civil rights protections and decades of efforts to undo bias in the law — undermining what Chief Justice Earl Warren called "our American ideal of fairness," says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Employer Tips For Wise Use Of Workers' Biometrics And Tech

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Employers that collect employee biometric data and operate bring-your-own-device policies, which respectively offer better corporate security and more flexibility for workers, should prioritize certain best practices to protect the privacy and rights of employees and safeguard sensitive internal information, says Douglas Yang at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Unprecedented Firings And The EEOC's Shifting Agenda

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    While President Donald Trump's unprecedented firing of Democratic Equal Employment Opportunity Commission members put an end to the party's voting majority, the move raises legal issues, as well as considerations related to the EEOC's lack of a quorum and shifting regulatory priorities, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.