Employment Litigation, Disparate Treatment, Appeals

Why Comparator Analysis Matters: A Key Fourth Circuit Ruling

Poyner Spruill LLP on 7/29/2025

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 generally prohibits covered employers from taking adverse actions against employees on the basis of race, sex, and other protected categories. Employee discipline is often the subject...more

Supreme Court Rejects Heightened Evidentiary Standard for Majority-Group Plaintiffs in Title VII Discrimination Claims

Warner Norcross + Judd on 6/20/2025

On June 5, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Ames v. Ohio Dept. of Youth Services that courts cannot apply a heightened evidentiary standard to majority-group plaintiffs when deciding discrimination claims. The...more

SCOTUS Ames Decision: Everyone’s in a “Protected Class”

McGlinchey Stafford on 6/19/2025

In employment law, we traditionally think of discrimination as applying to minority groups: African Americans, women, homosexuals, or other legally protected groups. In analyzing discrimination claims, one of the first...more

Supreme Court Clarifies Title VII Evidentiary Standards in “Reverse Discrimination” Cases, Removing Heightened Standard

Pierce Atwood LLP on 6/16/2025

In Ames v. Ohio Dept. of Youth Servs., the U.S. Supreme Court recently settled a circuit split and held that the Sixth Circuit’s “background circumstances” rule, which was applied only to plaintiffs from majority...more

Supreme Court Rejects Higher Standards for Majority Plaintiffs in Title VII Disparate Treatment Cases

Berkshire on 6/12/2025

The Supreme Court has voted unanimously to end a Circuit Court split regarding whether members of a “majority group” have additional evidentiary burdens when bringing a case under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for...more

Employees in the “Majority” Do Not Have Higher Burden When Proving Discrimination Says Unanimous Supreme Court

Bracewell LLP on 6/10/2025

In a case filed by a heterosexual woman claiming she was discriminated against due to her sexual orientation, a unanimous United States Supreme Court held that she should not be required to meet a higher standard to prove...more

Supreme Court Rejects Heightened Prima Facie “Background Circumstances” Test for Majority Group Plaintiffs

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 6/6/2025

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court vacated the dismissal of a heterosexual woman’s Title VII claims, concluding that she was improperly subjected to a heightened prima facie standard that required her to show...more

Fifth Circuit Opens the Door to More Discrimination Claims

BakerHostetler on 8/24/2023

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

Second Circuit Holds Evidence of Equal Work for Unequal Pay Not Required for Title VII Compensation Claims

ArentFox Schiff on 12/27/2019

The Second Circuit has held that employees who allege they were underpaid on the basis of their sex, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, are not required to first establish an Equal Pay Act claim but rather...more

Fourth Circuit Finds Two Race Discrimination Claims Failed to Allege Sufficiently Hostile Work Conditions

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 9/9/2019

In recent years, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina and South Carolina) has lowered the bar for plaintiffs to take racial harassment claims to a jury trial when the alleged conduct involved use...more

Third Circuit Permits Terminated Employee to Present Broad Comparisons to Others

Genova Burns LLC on 5/10/2019

The Third Circuit’s recent decision in Andujar v. General Nutrition Corporation (GNC) should remind employers that termination of an employee based on poor performance should result from clear policies, and that personalized...more

Seventh Circuit Says ADEA Does Not Apply to Applicants' Disparate Impact Claims

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 1/28/2019

Plaintiffs can bring employment discrimination claims under federal civil rights laws using one of two theories. Disparate treatment claims require the plaintiff to produce evidence of intent to discriminate due to a...more

Appeals Court Rejects Retaliation Claim Based On Religious Accommodation Request

Fisher Phillips on 11/15/2018

In a case of first impression, a federal appeals court just found that an applicant’s request for a religious accommodation did not constitute protected activity under Title VII for the purpose of establishing a retaliation...more

Employment Litigation › Disparate Treatment › Appeals

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