Discrimination, Employment Litigation, Corporate Counsel

Recent Settlement Latest in Developing Trend in Reverse Discrimination Cases

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP on 7/21/2025

It was announced on July 7 that IBM had resolved a former consultant’s “reverse” discrimination claim for an undisclosed sum, closing the door on his Title VII race and sex discrimination lawsuit. This settlement is yet...more

Supreme Court Increases Potential Employer Liability Under Title VII’s Discrimination Provisions

Gray Reed on 6/10/2025

On June 5, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, resolving a long-standing split among federal courts and clarifying the evidentiary standard for Title...more

Better Late Than Never? Not in the 5th Circuit: Delayed Action on Accommodation May Be ADA Violation

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 5/28/2025

Earlier this month, in Strife v. Aldine Independent School District, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employer’s delayed accommodation of an employee’s disability could amount to a failure to accommodate under...more

Supreme Court Poised to Strike Down Reverse Discrimination Standard

Husch Blackwell LLP on 3/3/2025

On February 26, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, a case that challenges the heightened evidentiary burden imposed on majority-group plaintiffs in Title VII...more

Executive Order 14173: How Public Companies’ DEI Initiatives May Be Targeted and Key Actions to Take Now

Epstein Becker & Green on 2/12/2025

On January 21, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Order”), which, among other actions, directs all executive departments and...more

7 strikes, and this employer is OUT!

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP on 1/22/2025

Employer going to trial in age discrimination case. We had a blizzard last Friday (in North Carolina, 2 inches is a blizzard), and we still have ice and snow on the ground a week later. Anyway, I've had enough of winter now...more

New York Employers Must (Again) Provide Reproductive Health Notice of Rights in Employee Handbooks Following Second Circuit Ruling

Mintz - Employment Viewpoints on 1/22/2025

New York employers are – once again – required to provide employees with notice regarding New York’s reproductive health decision making protections. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a lower court’s...more

Supreme Court to Hear Reverse Discrimination Appeal

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 1/17/2025

A few months ago, we published an alert noting that the U.S. Supreme Court had agreed to hear Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services. The case addresses whether plaintiffs alleging reverse discrimination under Title VII...more

Tenth Circuit Weighs in on Reductions in Force: Takeaways for Employers

Holland & Hart LLP on 1/14/2025

The Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of Spirit AeroSystems in a discrimination case related to a 2013 reduction-in-force (RIF). The plaintiffs had alleged that the company targeted older workers in a...more

Fourth Circuit Cautions Employers on Deciding Legitimacy of Workers' Religious Beliefs

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 1/10/2025

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers established internal procedures to evaluate employees' requests for religious and medical-based exemptions from vaccination mandates. ...more

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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 5/9/2024

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

Employer Avoids Liability for Wrongful Discharge Despite Alleged Comparator Receiving Lesser Discipline

Poyner Spruill LLP on 4/19/2023

It is often said that consistent application of an employer’s work rules is one of the best ways to avoid liability for discrimination claims. Doing so can help to rebut the allegation that an individual has been subjected...more

You Have Mail (Better Read It): District Court Finds EEOC 90-Day Deadline Starts When Email Received

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 6/21/2022

If a letter from the EEOC is in your virtual mailbox but you never open it, have you received it? Most of us are familiar with the requirement that a claimant who files an EEOC charge has 90 days to file a lawsuit after...more

EEOC Announces Two Recent Settlements of Title VII Race Lawsuits

Poyner Spruill LLP on 3/8/2022

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced two high-profile settlements of race claims – one for discrimination and one for harassment – that highlight the dangers of employers failing to protect...more

Fourth Circuit Issues Decision Favorable to Employer on ADA Accommodation

Poyner Spruill LLP on 7/7/2021

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) generally prohibits covered employers from discriminating against employees or applicants on the basis of disability. One form of such discrimination is failing to provide reasonable...more

UK Employment Appeal Tribunal: ‘Gender-critical’ Beliefs Are Protected Philosophical Beliefs

Morgan Lewis on 6/16/2021

The UK’s Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) found on 10 June 2021 in Maya Forstater v CGD Europe and others that gender-critical beliefs—including believing that one’s biological sex is immutable and not to be conflated with...more

What is a Reasonable Accommodation in the Workplace?

Cranfill Sumner LLP on 5/5/2021

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers with 15 or more employees are prohibited from discriminating against a qualified individual on the basis of disability. A covered employer is required, absent an...more

Keep in Touch: Fourth Circuit Issues Reminder of The Importance of Communicating With Employees on Leave

Poyner Spruill LLP on 4/13/2021

Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit—the court that decides federal appeals from South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland—issued an unpublished opinion that serves...more

Eleventh Circuit Finds HR Employee’s Assistance with EEOC Charge Reasonable

Burr & Forman on 10/10/2018

In late September, the Eleventh Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment for Kia Motors Manufacturing of Georgia, Inc. on race and national origin retaliation claims brought by one of its HR managers. In the split...more

Fourth Circuit Sides With EEOC: Back Pay Damages Are Mandatory Under The ADEA

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 9/24/2018

Seyfarth Synopsis: Although back pay has been awarded in Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) cases for quite some time, few courts have specifically addressed whether these damages are discretionary or mandatory. In...more

State Appeals Court Expands Scope Of NYC’s Marital Status Discrimination Law

Fisher Phillips on 9/12/2018

The scope of New York City’s marital status discrimination law was just expanded by a state appeals court, meaning that employers need to be even more wary when it comes to any workplace decisions taken on the basis of who...more

New Jersey Court Expands Coverage: New Jersey Law Against Discrimination May Apply to Telecommuter Located in Massachusetts

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 4/11/2018

Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 2, 2018, the New Jersey Appellate Division reversed an order granting summary judgment to Defendant Legal Cost Control, Inc., finding that New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD) may apply to...more

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