News & Analysis as of August 18, 2025

First Amendment › Employment Discrimination

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The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech or the press, preventing citizens from peacefully assembling, or interfering with citizens' ability to petition the government for redress of their grievances. The First Amendment is one of the most sacred aspects of the American legal tradition and has spawned a vast body of jurisprudence and commentary. less -

Proselytizing Online, Fired in Real Life: Are Anti-LGBTQ+ Views Protected by Title VII?

Husch Blackwell LLP on 7/25/2025

Earlier this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement, commenced litigation against Rock Snowpark on July 2, 2025, for allegedly retaliating...more

Pronouns and Preliminary Injunctions: Eleventh Circuit Weighs in on Employee’s Free Speech Rights in Public Schools

Saul Ewing LLP on 7/11/2025

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently issued an opinion rejecting a public employee’s challenge to a Florida law that prohibits teachers from using their preferred pronouns in the classroom....more

Littler Lightbulb – May Employment Appellate Roundup

Littler on 6/10/2025

Fourth Circuit Dismisses White Employee’s Race, Gender, and Retaliation Claims - Barnhill v. Pamela Bondi, __ F.4th __ (4th Cir. May 15, 2025) involved claims by a white Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration...more

A Day of Near-Unanimity on Six Important Cases - SCOTUS Today

Epstein Becker & Green on 6/6/2025

As this term draws to a close, the U.S. Supreme Court is getting busy in reducing its inventory of pending cases. Yesterday, six of them were resolved....more

The Supreme Court Update - June 5, 2025

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on 6/6/2025

The Supreme Court of the United States issued six decisions today: Ames v. Ohio Dept. of Youth Services, No. 23-1039: This case addresses whether majority-group plaintiffs are held to a heighted evidentiary standard in...more

Second Circuit Reinstates New York Reproductive Health Bias Law's Notice Requirement in Employee Handbooks

Hinshaw & Culbertson - Employment Law... on 5/9/2025

On January 2, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a permanent injunction that barred the enforcement of a requirement under the New York Labor Law Section 203-e (the "Act") that New York State...more

Losing My Religion? 8th Circuit Finds that Freedom of Religion is Not a Justification for Employee Conduct

Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti,... on 5/2/2025

The past few decades have seen a Supreme Court receptive to claims brought on the basis of freedom of religion. For example, in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (June 2014), the Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care...more

Digital Danger: When Social Media Posts Can Trigger Workplace Investigations

Oppenheimer Investigations Group on 4/29/2025

Employers bear the responsibility of preventing and correcting harassment in the workplace. While the line between on and off duty conduct has never been crystal clear, in today’s hyper-connected world of social media, the...more

Trump’s DEI Executive Orders Hit Another Judicial Roadblock

Fenwick & West LLP on 4/17/2025

On Tuesday, April 15, 2025, Judge Matthew Kennelly of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted a motion for preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Department of Labor from enforcing the...more

FCC Takes Aim at Media Companies’ IE&D Efforts

Littler on 4/15/2025

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr recently revealed in a social media post the agency’s latest probe into various media entities’ inclusion, equity, and diversity efforts....more

U.S. District Court Judge Temporarily Blocks Department of Labor from Enforcing Certain Provisions of DEI-Related Executive Orders

Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP on 4/2/2025

On March 27, 2025, Judge Matthew Kennelly of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Department of Labor from enforcing certain provisions of Executive...more

Northern District of Illinois Becomes Latest Court to Block President Trump’s DEI Executive Orders

Arnall Golden Gregory LLP on 4/1/2025

As we have reported, President Trump’s Executive Orders 14151 and 14173 targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) programs (the “DEI Orders”) have resulted in considerable legal activity addressing the...more

Trump’s Anti-DEI Agenda Remains at Center Stage

Benesch on 4/1/2025

Since Trump’s first day back in office, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) has been at the forefront of political discourse. As we previously reported, Trump issued several Executive Orders targeting DEI efforts and...more

What Would John Wilkes Booth Do? Mandatory COVID Vaxes for Actors

Proskauer - California Employment Law on 4/1/2025

Although the threat of COVID-19 (remember that?) seems to have diminished considerably over the past five years, once upon a time in Hollywood many production companies (along with other employers) required employees to be...more

Illinois Federal Judge Blocks DOL From Enforcing Termination, Certification Provisions in Trump DEI-Related EOs

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 3/31/2025

On March 27, 2025, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from enforcing portions of two provisions in President Donald Trump’s...more

Ninth Circuit Rules on Caste as a Protected Class in CSU’s Anti-Discrimination Policy

Meyers Nave on 3/21/2025

On March 12, 2025, the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Kumar v. Koester, dismissing a constitutional challenge to a university’s anti-discrimination policy that added “caste” as a protected class. Effective January 1,...more

DEI Injunction Terminated by Federal Court of Appeals Reinstating DEI Certification Requirement and Civil False Claims Act Risk

Foley & Lardner LLP on 3/18/2025

As previously reported, one of the first executive orders (EO 14173) issued by President Trump was to rescind Executive Order 11246, issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which required federal contractors and subcontractors...more

Now What? Navigating the DEI Executive Orders and Ongoing Legal Challenges to Their Enforcement

Lathrop GPM on 3/17/2025

Since taking office in January, President Trump has signed a flurry of Executive Orders (EOs) on a wide range of topics. Few EOs, however, have generated as much attention and uncertainty as Executive Order 14151 and...more

Executive Order 14173 Injunction and Updates

Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP on 3/10/2025

On January 21, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14173 titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Order”). As was noted in our February 10, 2025, article, the Order amounted...more

Court Blocks Enforcement of Anti-DEI Executive Orders

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP on 3/6/2025

What, exactly, is “illegal” Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”)? As we previously reported, two recent Executive Orders (“EO”) prohibit “illegal” DEI practices that violate longstanding civil rights laws, but fail to...more

Whistleblowers Get a Stronger Whistle: The False Claims Act Liability Under President Trump’s DEI Order

Lathrop GPM on 3/4/2025

One of the new administration’s Executive Orders, titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Base Opportunity,” has significant potential impact on companies operating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)...more

Federal Judge Denies Bid to Stay Preliminary Injunction Blocking President Trump’s DEI-Related Executive Orders

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 3/4/2025

On March 3, 2025, a federal judge in Maryland refused to halt a preliminary injunction blocking key parts of two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders (EO) seeking to eliminate “illegal” diversity, equity, and...more

Federal Court Injunction Pauses Key Provisions of President Trump’s DEI Executive Orders

Shipman & Goodwin LLP on 3/3/2025

On February 21, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction that significantly impacts two of President Trump’s executive orders targeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)...more

The Ongoing Battle Between Judicial and Executive Power: The District Court of Maryland Enjoins President Trump’s DEI Orders on a...

Arnall Golden Gregory LLP on 2/27/2025

On Friday, February 21, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland entered a preliminary injunction halting provisions of two of President Trump’s executive orders that sought to effectively eliminate...more

DEI Revived? Judge Issues Nationwide Injunction Against DEI-Based Executive Orders

Holland & Knight LLP on 2/27/2025

"Vague laws invite arbitrary power," U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland said in a ruling temporarily barring the Trump Administration from implementing parts of its...more

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First Amendment › Employment Discrimination

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