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Corporate Counsel Hostile Environment Employment Litigation

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Doing Nothing in Response to a Report of Sexual Harassment Could Cost You Millions – the LAPD Recently Learned the Hard Way

If an employee complains about a sexually suggestive picture circulating in the workplace that looks like her but is not, is that a hostile work environment complaint? It might be. In Lillian Carranza v. City of Los Angeles,...more

Perkins Coie

Employers See Wins in Title VII Suits Over DEI Trainings

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Key Takeaways - - Employers have recently prevailed in several cases across the country in which plaintiffs attacked diversity training and other DEI-related initiatives in the workplace. Decisions have indicated that many...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Says Failure to Follow Policies Prevents Early Dismissal of Discrimination Claims

Earlier this month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) vacated the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the employer in Wannamaker-Amos v. Purem Novi...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Sex-Plus X – What’s That? Discrimination

Here’s a refresher: Discriminating against a subclass of a sex (e.g., older women or black women) is still discrimination. In McCreight v. AuburnBank, the Eleventh Circuit clarified a few things for the lawyers related to the...more

Miller Nash LLP

California Supreme Court Holds Single Allegation of Racial Slur by Coworker Sufficient to Form Basis of Hostile Work Environment...

Miller Nash LLP on

Recently, the California Supreme Court found that a plaintiff’s claim based on a single (disputed) racial epithet by a non-supervisory coworker was sufficient to form the basis of a hostile work environment claim—it was...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

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Claims of Hostile Work Environment Happened Over Too Long a Period, Court Rules

Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims from a university professor that she had been subjected to a series of retaliatory acts in the two- and one-half year period following her filing an Equal...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

Fourth Circuit Says Racial Slur From Owner's Six-Year-Old Son is Evidence of Offensive Working Environment

​​​​​​​Over the past decade, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) has substantially lowered the bar for demonstrating racial harassment in cases where a racial...more

Bowditch & Dewey

Reading the Riot Act: $100 Million Settlement in Gender Discrimination Class Action

Bowditch & Dewey on

A California Superior Court judge recently preliminarily approved a $100 million settlement in connection with a class action brought on behalf of a class of current and former female employees at video game studio Riot...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Concludes That Non-Sexual Hugs and Kisses Don't Constitute a Hostile or Offensive Work Environment

The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that federal courts will not serve as a super HR department for employees who complain about unpleasant work conditions. Every worker is expected to tolerate a certain level of obnoxious...more

Genova Burns LLC

Glass Houses: Hostile Work Environment Claim Dismissed Due to Employee’s Own Unprofessional Conduct

Genova Burns LLC on

On April 19, 2022, in Bouziotis v. Iron Bar, LLC, the New Jersey Appellate Division upheld a trial court’s dismissal of a former bartender’s hostile work environment and gender discrimination claims partly on the grounds that...more

Genova Burns LLC

Employer Documentation Saves the Day & Earns Dismissal of Age Bias Lawsuit

Genova Burns LLC on

On April 4, 2022, in the matter of Jane Rocks, et al. v. PNC Investments LLC, et al., a three-judge Appellate Panel affirmed the Superior Court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of PNC Investments LLC and dismissing the...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Tesla Still Liable for Racially Hostile Work Environment

In October 2021, a California federal jury awarded $137 million to a former contract employee who worked for Tesla. The jury found Tesla liable for creating a racially hostile work environment and awarded the employee $6.9...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Tesla Hit With $137 Million Jury Verdict for Racially Charged Workplace

On October 4, a California federal jury awarded $137 million to a former contract employee who worked for Tesla. At trial, the plaintiff testified that he was repeatedly called the N-word while at work, regularly heard racial...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

End of the Road: Eighth Circuit Upholds $3.3 Million Fee Award Against The EEOC For Frivolous Claims

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: After over a decade of litigation between the EEOC and trucking company CRST Van Expedited, the Eighth Circuit recently affirmed a federal district court’s order requiring the EEOC to pay $3.3 million in...more

Miles & Stockbridge P.C.

Has the Fourth Circuit Set the Stage for LGBTQ Protections Under Title VII?

The Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in Evangeline Parker v. Reema Consulting Services, Incorporated, 915 F.3d 297 (4th Cir. 2019) grabbed headlines for its controversial ruling that workplace gossip can support a sex...more

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

The Americans with Disabilities Act Prohibits Hostile Work Environments, Second Circuit Rules

On March 6, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided Fox v. Costco Wholesale Corporation, eliminating any uncertainty concerning whether an employee can assert a hostile work environment claim under the...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Court Confirms Employer Can Be Liable For Harassment By Non-Employee

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Faced with a question not yet addressed by the Third Circuit, a federal judge in Pennsylvania found an employer, as well as individual managers, may be held liable for an employee’s claim of a hostile work environment based...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Fourth Circuit Ruling Provides Cautionary Tale for Employer’s Managing Internal Harassment Complaints and Investigations

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Fourth Circuit recently found that reducing a current employee’s voluntary overtime opportunities – despite the absence of a reduction in overall income – could be considered a tangible or materially...more

Laner Muchin, Ltd.

Recent Federal Decisions Highlight Breadth of Employers’ Obligations Under Title VII

Laner Muchin, Ltd. on

Recent federal court decisions serve as a timely reminder of an employer’s obligations under Title VII to protect employees from all unlawful harassment in the workplace, even if that harassment is perpetrated by someone...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Just What Does A Racially Hostile Environment Look Like? The Eleventh Circuit Provides Some Guidance

What constitutes a racially hostile work environment? Is one really bad comment specifically aimed at the plaintiff sufficient or do you need a sustained series of racial comments? What if you have both but no evidence that...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Seventh Circuit Says Employer Liable for Customer Stalking Employee

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from workplace harassment. As most employers know, these protections apply not only to behavior by co-workers and supervisors but also to harassment by customers,...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Requiring Employees Seeking Reasonable Accommodations to “Feel the Burn” May Violate ADA

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: The D.C. Circuit recently revived a single-leg amputee’s claim that his former employer failed to accommodate his disability by refusing his request for a classroom aide....more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Same-Sex Harassment of Male Employee in Mixed-Gender Workplace Violated Title VII

In its 1998 Oncale decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex sexual harassment can violate Title VII’s gender discrimination prohibitions. However, the court noted that in order to demonstrate violation of the...more

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