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Civil Rights Act Employer Liability Issues

Conn Maciel Carey LLP

Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services: What the Supreme Court’s Unanimous Ruling Means for Employers and DEI Policies

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Reshaping the litigation landscape for workplace discrimination claims, last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Ames v. Ohio Dept. of Youth Servs., 145 S. Ct. 1540 (June 5, 2025), that plaintiffs bringing so-called...more

Ice Miller

Anti-DEI Enforcement Takes Shape: DOJ and States Apply New Vision of Civil Rights

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At the beginning of the second Trump administration, the President and Attorney General Pam Bondi indicated they would use the levers of government to end DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and programs. The...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Timing Is Everything: SCOTUS Shuts Down Retiree’s ADA Post-Employment Benefits Claim

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Do former employees have the right to sue their previous employer under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for discrimination in the administration of post-employment fringe benefits? Resolving a circuit...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Reverse Discrimination Lawsuits Are So Back

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On June 5, 2025, a unanimous Supreme Court eliminated the requirement for a higher evidentiary standard for majority plaintiffs (white, male, heterosexual, etc.) who claim discrimination under Title VII (also known as reverse...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Water Cooler Talk: ‘Late Night’ Shows DEI Is More Than Optics

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The 2019 film “Late Night,” written by and starring Mindy Kaling, tells the story of a late-night talk show host, Katherine Newbury, played by Emma Thompson, whose all-male, all-white writing staff scrambles to add a female...more

Berkshire

Private Plaintiff Attorneys Step Up in Title VII Disparate Impact Cases

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After the White House announced that it would “deprioritize” disparate impact cases, many employers may have mistakenly concluded that disparate impact liability was no longer a concern under Title VII. However, recent...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

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

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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

Venable LLP

The Supreme Court Says Employers Can Be Liable for Discriminating Against Majority Groups

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Earlier this month, in a long-awaited ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a straight white woman who claimed to have lost out on two positions to LGBT candidates and was also demoted in favor of them. ...more

Quarles & Brady LLP

Supreme Court Clarifies Standard for Reverse Discrimination Suits Under Title VII

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In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the Supreme Court last Thursday held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) imposes no additional requirements on majority-group...more

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani

SCOTUS Unanimously Rejects Heightened Burden for Majority-Group Discrimination Claims

On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of petitioner, Marlean Ames, a heterosexual woman, who commenced a reverse discrimination case against her former employer, the Ohio Department of Youth...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Heightened Standard for "Reverse Discrimination" Claims

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On June 5, 2025, in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected the “background circumstances” test previously applied by several federal circuits in “reverse discrimination” cases....more

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

DOJ Civil Rights Fraud Initiative Signals Expansive Enforcement Threat for Employers Receiving Federal Funds

On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative. This is a coordinated enforcement effort aimed at using the False Claims Act (FCA) to investigate and, where appropriate,...more

Venable LLP

New Trump Executive Order Dismantles Disparate Impact Liability

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On April 23, President Trump issued an executive order, "Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy" (EO), intending to abolish a longstanding liability theory for workplace discrimination claims. Emphasizing the need...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

PIP This: The Expansion of Actionable Adverse Employment Decisions in the Wake of Muldrow v. City of St. Louis

Over the course of the last year, employers have faced increased claims from employees testing what constitutes an actionable adverse action under the anti-discrimination provision of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964...more

Hinckley Allen

Trump’s Latest Executive Order Addressing Discrimination Claims: What Does This Mean for Disparate Impact Liability?

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On April 23, 2025, President Trump issued his executive order, Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy (“EO”).  The EO’s stated purpose is “to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the...more

Lathrop GPM

Federal Agencies Issue Guidance Identifying DEI Policies and Practices That May Be Unlawful

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Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) issued guidance that aims to educate the public about conduct and programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Navigating DEI in a Shifting Legal Landscape

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Workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs face more scrutiny than ever in light of President Trump’s recent executive orders regarding DEI policies and programs across the public and private sectors, recent...more

McGlinchey Stafford

Podcast: Sexual Misconduct and Safer Seas: What Merchant Mariners Need to Know [More with McGlinchey, Ep. 78]

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In this installment of the More with McGlinchey Podcast, labor and employment attorney Susan Desmond and maritime attorney Marcelle Mouledoux discuss the Safer Seas Act and Title VII requirements for the marine industry. They...more

Fisher Phillips

AI Screening Systems Face Fresh Scrutiny: 6 Key Takeaways From Claims Filed Against Hiring Technology Company

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A Deaf, Indigenous woman claims an employer’s use of a popular automated video interview platform unfairly blocked her promotion due to AI-driven biases related to her disability and race. The ACLU filed charges on March 19...more

Holland & Knight LLP

How to Run a Legally Compliant DEI Program

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The Trump Administration's focus on ending "illegal DEI discrimination" was recently operationalized by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in guidance released on...more

Benesch

Recent Guidance from the EEOC Targets DEI. So How Should Employers React?

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), two federal agencies responsible for policing discrimination in the workplace, recently issued informal guidance outlining what could...more

Bowditch & Dewey

Federal Agencies Release Much-Anticipated Guidance on DEI in the Workplace

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On March 19, 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued joint guidance highlighting workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) practices that may...more

Conn Kavanaugh

A Guide for Massachusetts Employers Concerning Executive Order 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based...

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The federal government does not have legal authority to prohibit private-sector businesses from engaging in lawful Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility practices, or mandate their removal. On January 21, 2025,...more

Brooks Pierce

DOJ and EEOC Issue Statements on Administration’s Interpretation of "Illegal DEI"

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On March 19, 2025, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued two technical assistance documents that illuminate how these federal agencies will define "illegal...more

BakerHostetler

Trump Administration Issues Guidance on ‘Unlawful DEI-Related Discrimination’ in the Workplace

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In a follow-up to our previously published article concerning what steps employers should take in the wake of President Donald Trump’s efforts to end illegal DEI discrimination, we note that the federal government has since...more

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