Discrimination

  • April 05, 2024

    Atlanta Braves Accused Of Denying Hire Over Deafness

    The Atlanta Braves were hit with an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit Thursday alleging the team turned down an IT director candidate because it was reluctant to accommodate his deafness.

  • April 05, 2024

    Wash. Clinic Reaches Religious Bias Settlement With EEOC

    A mental health clinic in Washington state agreed to pay $95,000 to resolve a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge alleging it fired a therapist for asking to be relieved of a job responsibility that clashed with her religious beliefs, the federal bias watchdog said.

  • April 04, 2024

    3 Takeaways As EEOC Sheds Light On Groff's Application

    A recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling that a federal employee didn't face religious bias when he wasn't allowed to skip a civil rights training contains valuable insight for private employers about how the commission will apply a year-old religious accommodations test from the U.S. Supreme Court. Here, management-side experts discuss three takeaways from the EEOC's opinion and analysis of the Supreme Court's ruling in Groff v. DeJoy.

  • April 04, 2024

    Stanford Lecturer Says Mideast War Talk Got Him Suspended

    A Black Muslim Stanford University lecturer said the school refused to renew his contract after he discussed the Israel-Hamas war in class and had students take part in a profiling and policing simulation, despite him being cleared of wrongdoing.

  • April 04, 2024

    CUNY Beats Worker's Disability Bias Suit At 2nd Circ.

    The Second Circuit declined Thursday to reinstate a CUNY college maintenance supervisor's suit alleging he was denied promotions and remote work for taking time off to undergo a kidney transplant, ruling that he didn't show the institution's decision making was driven by bias.

  • April 04, 2024

    Ill. Temp Worker Dispute Stayed For 7th Circ. Appeal

    A challenge to an Illinois law mandating that many temporary workers receive equivalent benefits to long-term employees has been stayed, as a federal court allowed the state to appeal an order preliminarily blocking the statute.

  • April 04, 2024

    Ex-Ariz. Cardinals VP Sues Team After $3M Arbitration Award

    A former vice president with the Arizona Cardinals and two family members have filed a defamation suit in Arizona state court against the NFL team, its owner and the public relations company and law firm they retained, following the ex-VP's $3 million award in a defamation grievance against them with the league.

  • April 04, 2024

    Boston-Based AI Company Ends Laid-Off Worker's Bias Suit

    An artificial intelligence company and a former employee agreed to end her suit alleging she was unlawfully laid off because she is a Hispanic single mother with post-traumatic stress disorder who complained that the company was "cooking the books," according to a filing in California federal court.

  • April 04, 2024

    GRSM50 Accused Of Letting Detroit Hotel Hide Evidence

    Former workers at an upscale Detroit hotel suing over their firings urged a Michigan federal judge on Wednesday to sanction the club and disqualify its attorneys at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP, alleging it is likely they helped withhold documents and try to intimidate witnesses.

  • April 04, 2024

    Pierson Ferdinand Brings On Morgan Lewis Litigator In Philly

    Newly formed Pierson Ferdinand LLP has added a high-stakes employment litigator to its Philadelphia office from Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

  • April 04, 2024

    5th Circ. Won't Upend Oil Pipeline Co.'s Win In Age Bias Suit

    The Fifth Circuit backed a jury verdict in favor of an oil pipeline company over allegations it fired a 64-year-old driver because of his age, rejecting the worker's claim that the district court improperly allowed potential jurors to be eliminated because they were Hispanic.

  • April 04, 2024

    'Real Housewives' Assault Case Legally Deficient, Court Told

    Bravo, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. have asked a Manhattan judge to toss a suit brought by a former "Real Housewives" cast member who claimed she was sexually assaulted while filming in Morocco, arguing her claims were filed in the wrong jurisdiction and past a one-year statute of limitations.

  • April 04, 2024

    11th Circ. Backs Toss Of Haitian Worker's Bias Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit declined to reinstate a Haitian former worker's suit accusing a Florida county's corrections department of removing him from his station after he reported managers for sexually harassing a female officer, saying his suit was filled with vague and immaterial facts.

  • April 04, 2024

    Exec Says Disney Filmmaker Fired Her For Bias Complaints

    A filmmaker for ABC and Disney repeatedly ignored a multiracial development director's complaints that she was underpaid and eventually fired her for speaking up about bias and harassment she faced on the job, she said in a suit in California state court.

  • April 03, 2024

    9th Circ. Skeptical Of ADA Suit Against Buddhist Temple

    The Ninth Circuit appeared hesitant Wednesday to revive a former live-in apprentice's disability bias suit against a Buddhist temple, with a panel suggesting that his maintenance duties didn't place him outside the scope of a ministerial exception to anti-discrimination law.

  • April 03, 2024

    UMich Says Law Prof's FMLA Leave Can't Prevent Discipline

    The University of Michigan told a federal judge Wednesday that a law professor's need for medical leave did not mean administrators couldn't discipline her for allegedly walking out on certain teaching responsibilities, rebutting her claims that the university's actions were because of her race or gender.

  • April 03, 2024

    Bank Wraps Up Ex-VP's Age Discrimination Suit

    A community bank reached an agreement with a former senior vice president to end his age bias lawsuit accusing the bank of forcing him into a rigorous interview process and then replacing him with someone 20 years his junior, the parties told a Florida federal court Wednesday.

  • April 03, 2024

    BlackBerry Fired Worker Harassed By Executive, Suit Says

    BlackBerry swept away a former employee's allegations that an executive sexually harassed her and then fired her to make way for his ascension to CEO, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in California federal court.

  • April 03, 2024

    Hospital Workers' Vax Free Speech Suit Falls Flat At 6th Circ.

    The Sixth Circuit backed the dismissal of two workers' claims that a children's hospital violated their constitutional rights when it rejected their religious objections to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, saying Wednesday they failed to show the hospital was a government actor.

  • April 03, 2024

    2nd Circ. Puts Metro-North Race Bias Suit Back On Track

    The Second Circuit revived a Black former conductor's lawsuit claiming Metro-North fired him after a 2018 train collision while white workers involved were allowed to keep their jobs, finding on Wednesday that the trial court made assumptions that should have been left for later in the case.

  • April 03, 2024

    3rd Circ. Urges Crane Co., Ex-Worker To Settle Disability Case

    A Third Circuit panel seemed sympathetic Wednesday to an injured machinery worker who sued his former employer for disability discrimination but urged the parties to give mediation another shot, ending oral arguments by referring them to the court's chief circuit mediator.

  • April 03, 2024

    1st Circ. Hints Trader Joe's Age Bias Case Fit For Jury

    A pair of First Circuit judges on Wednesday suggested that an 80-year-old former Trader Joe's employee should have gotten the chance to bring her age discrimination claims to trial after she was fired for buying beer for her underage grandson.

  • April 03, 2024

    NY Public Radio Must Face Black Ex-Host's Race Bias Claims

    A New York federal judge refused to end a Black former New York Public Radio host's suit alleging she lost out on promotions for complaining about racial bias before being accused of plagiarism and quitting, ruling she put forward enough detail to keep the majority of her case in play.

  • April 02, 2024

    Ye Spewed Anti-Jewish And LGBTQ Hate, Fired Worker Says

    Rapper Ye, his companies and Donda Academy were hit with a discrimination suit in California state court Tuesday by a former employee who accuses Ye of threatening to cage students, spewing hateful rhetoric against Jewish people and the LGBTQ community, and treating Black employees far worse than white staffers.

  • April 02, 2024

    Ga. Judge Tosses Ex-Police Chief's Retaliation Suit

    A Georgia federal judge has freed the city of Austell from a lawsuit brought against it by its former police chief, who alleged that he was forced out of his job after three years of raising concerns about the safety of department facilities.

Expert Analysis

  • What To Expect From The EEOC's Proposed Pregnancy Law

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    U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act require accommodations for many conditions related to pregnancy and childbirth, and while the final rule won't be published until the public comment period expires in October, employers should act promptly, says Amy Gluck at FisherBroyles.

  • Employer Best Practices For Pay Transparency Compliance

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    With conflicting pay transparency and disclosure laws appearing across the country, employers must carefully develop different strategies for discussing compensation with employees, applicants, and off-site workers, disclosing salaries in job ads, and staying abreast of new state and local compliance requirements, says Joy Rosenquist at Littler Mendelson.

  • Congress Must Level The Employer Arbitration Playing Field

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    Federal courts have largely eviscerated state bans on arbitration of employment claims through Federal Arbitration Act preemption holdings, and they are also limiting the impact of the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, so Congress needs to step in and amend both laws, says Alan Kabat at Bernabei & Kabat.

  • What 11th Circ. Revival Of Deaf Employee's Bias Suit Portends

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent Beasley v. O'Reilly Auto Parts decision, which created a circuit split involving the issue of linking accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act to essential job functions, is a curiosity about the court's analysis at least and a potential game changer for employer duties at most, says John Doran at Sherman & Howard.

  • What To Watch As Justices Take Up Title VII Job Transfer Case

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    With its recent decision to hear Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether an involuntary job transfer can count as employment discrimination under Title VII — an eventual ruling that has potential to reshape workplace bias claims nationwide, says Adam Grogan at Bell Law Group.

  • Parsing EEOC Guidance On Accommodating Low Vision

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    Employers need to examine recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance on provisions for employees who are blind or partially sighted, particularly on the consequences of terminating an employee with blindness or low vision without meeting obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, says Amy Epstein Gluck at FisherBroyles.

  • 5 Tips For Employers Handling Generative AI Privacy Risks

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    Employers should carefully consider the privacy implications of using generative artificial intelligence tools, and employ steps to mitigate the risks, such as de-identifying data, providing notice and identifying data flows, say Zoe Argento and Amy Kabaria at Littler.

  • Water Cooler Talk: 'The Bear' Serves Up Advice For Managers

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with Ernst & Young’s Laura Yehuda about Hulu's "The Bear" and the best practices managers can glean from the show's portrayal of workplace challenges, including those faced by young, female managers.

  • Recalling USWNT's Legal PR Playbook Amid World Cup Bid

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    As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team strives to take home another World Cup trophy, their 2022 pay equity settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation serves as a good reminder that winning in the court of public opinion can be more powerful than a victory inside the courtroom, says Hector Valle at Vianovo.

  • Mass. Age Bias Ruling Holds Employer Liability Lessons

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    The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s recent ruling in Adams v. Schneider Electric — upholding a laid-off employee’s age discrimination claim — is an important reminder that employers may face liability even if a decision maker unknowingly applies a discriminatory corporate strategy, say attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale.

  • Regulating AI: Litigation Questions And State Efforts To Watch

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    In view of the developing legal and regulatory framework for artificial intelligence systems in the U.S., including state legislation and early federal litigation, there are practical takeaways as we look toward the future, says Jennifer Maisel at Rothwell Figg.

  • Regulating AI: An Overview Of Federal Efforts

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    The U.S. has been carefully managing a national policy and regulatory ecosystem toward artificial intelligence, but as AI technology continues to expand into our everyday lives, so too has its risks and the need for regulation, says Jennifer Maisel at Rothwell Figg.

  • Justices' Job Transfer Review Should Hold To Title VII Text

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis should hold that a job transfer can be an adverse employment action, and the analysis should be based on the straightforward language of Title VII rather than judicial activism, say Lynne Bernabei and Alan Kabat at Bernabei & Kabat.