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Appeals Title VII Employer Liability Issues

Littler

Sixth Circuit Limits Employer Liability for Harassment by Nonemployees

Littler on

On August 8, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled an employer is not liable for harassment of an employee by a third party unless the employer intended for the harassment to occur. This stark departure...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Sixth Circuit Takes Restricted View of Employer Liability for Third-Party Harassment

For years, both the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and multiple federal appellate circuits have agreed on the legal standard for proving liability for sexual or other harassment by a third party such as a vendor or...more

Phelps Dunbar

Sixth Circuit Redefines Employer Liability for Client-Based Harassment

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In an explicit departure from EEOC guidance and other federal court caselaw, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently held that an employer can only be liable for a client/customer’s harassment of its...more

FordHarrison

Sixth Circuit Requires Proof of Intent for Employers to be Liable for Harassment by a Nonemployee

FordHarrison on

On August 8, 2025, in Bivens v. Zep, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that employer liability for nonemployee harassment requires proof of the employer’s intent, a departure from the...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Supreme Court Strikes Down Sixth Circuit Rule Heightening Discrimination Standard for Members of Majority Groups

Troutman Pepper Locke on

A recent Supreme Court decision clarified that discrimination claims brought by members of majority groups in so-called “reverse discrimination” cases cannot be subject to a heightened evidentiary burden. In Ames v. Ohio...more

Brooks Pierce

High Court Unanimously Rejects the Imposition of Special Requirements for “Majority Group” Discrimination Claims

Brooks Pierce on

On Thursday, June 5, 2025, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the notion that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) imposes special requirements on a “majority-group” plaintiff trying to make an initial...more

Cozen O'Connor

Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services

Cozen O'Connor on

In a unanimous opinion, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that Title VII’s protections against discrimination do not require majority group individuals (including white people, men, and heterosexuals) to...more

Woods Rogers

Supreme Court Reaffirms Equal Access to Title VII Protections

Woods Rogers on

In a unanimous decision issued June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services vacated a Sixth Circuit ruling that imposed a higher evidentiary burden on majority-group plaintiffs in Title...more

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC

Supreme Court Issues Ruling in Ames ‘Reverse Discrimination’ Case

On June 5, 2025, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services in which the Plaintiff alleged reverse discrimination based on sexual orientation. Marlean Ames was hired in 2004 as an...more

Poyner Spruill LLP

Third Circuit Finds “Modicum” of Control Insufficient to Create Employment Relationship

Poyner Spruill LLP on

In order to state a claim for discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), a plaintiff must first demonstrate that he or she had an employment relationship with the defendant.  Although various...more

Perkins Coie

Divided Ninth Circuit Panel Upholds NLRB’s Enhanced Remedial Powers

Perkins Coie on

In IUOE, Local 39 v. National Labor Relations Board, No. 23-124, No. 23-150, 23-188, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel issued a 2-1 ruling on January 21, 2025, enforcing a National Labor Relations Board...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Vax On: Fourth Circuit Reinstates Plaintiff’s Religious Bias Suit in COVID Vaccine Mandate Case

On January 7, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s dismissal of a plaintiff’s Title VII religious bias suit—holding the case was sufficient to survive a motion to...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Tenth Circuit Clarifies When the Door for Individual Liability Under the FMLA Is Opened

On January 14, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in Walkingstick Dixon v. Oklahoma Regional University System Board of Regents that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) permits actions against...more

Venable LLP

Ninth Circuit to Employers: What Your Employees Say on Social Media May Haunt You

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Picture this: You're packing up your office, getting ready to head home for the evening, when your human resources manager peaks her head in. She explains that she has just fielded a complaint from a female employee: a male...more

Fisher Phillips

Appeals Court Hands Victory to Transgender Employee Seeking Health Benefits: Key Takeaways and 3 Steps Employers Can Take Now

Fisher Phillips on

A federal appeals court recently held that an employer’s health insurance plan wrongly excluded coverage for gender-affirming care in violation of federal civil rights law – offering a warning to employers across the country...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Get with the Pronoun: Eleventh Circuit Rules Pervasive Misgendering Is Harassment

If an employer or coworker persistently uses a transgender worker’s wrong name or identified pronoun, can that constitute a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII? In Copeland v. Georgia Department of Corrections,...more

Rumberger | Kirk

Fifth Circuit Opens the Door for Growing Discrimination Claims

Rumberger | Kirk on

A federal appeals court has made it easier for plaintiffs to bring employment discrimination lawsuits, but failed to offer clear guidance on how employers can adjust policies to minimize litigation risk. The en banc...more

Gray Reed

Appeals Court Opens Door to More Discrimination Claims

Gray Reed on

On August 18, 2023, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which holds jurisdiction over Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, abandoned a decades-old interpretation that discrimination must be related to an “ultimate employment...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Recognizes 'Equal Opportunity Harasser' Defense

We often hear claims from employees who threaten to sue their employer for creating a “hostile work environment.” When we dig into the complaints, often the employee is alleging that their manager is mean or unfair to them,...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Federal Appeals Court Overturns Decades-Old Precedent on Workplace Discrimination Claims

For decades, courts in the Fifth Circuit have followed a particularly strict rule limiting when employees can sue under Title VII for workplace discrimination. That changed last Friday....more

Butler Snow LLP

Fifth Circuit Expands the Scope of Federal Antidiscrimination Laws

Butler Snow LLP on

On August 18, 2023, the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals expanded the range of negative employer actions that can serve as a basis for an employment discrimination lawsuit. This decision overruled established precedent...more

BakerHostetler

Fifth Circuit Opens the Door to More Discrimination Claims

BakerHostetler on

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent decision in Hamilton v. Dallas County expanded the scope of claims employees may pursue under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII is the anti-discrimination statute...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Fifth Circuit Upends ‘Ultimate Employment Decision’ Requirement for Title VII Discrimination Claims

On August 18, 2023, in Hamilton v. Dallas County, the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upended a longstanding precedent, significantly broadening the types of adverse employment actions that could give rise to an...more

Benesch

Fifth Circuit Expands Legal Standard for Employment Discrimination Cases

Benesch on

On August 18, 2023, the Fifth Circuit overturned its longstanding precedent established in Dollis v. Rubin, 77 F.3d 777 (5th Cir. 1995). The new standard created in Hamilton v. Dallas County, case number 21-10133, allows for...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Fifth Circuit Upends 30 Years of Title VII Precedent, Making it Easier for Employees to Bring Discrimination Claims

Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upended longstanding, employer-friendly precedent in cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. For decades, an employment discrimination plaintiff in the Fifth...more

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