Redskins Name Is an 'Ethnic Slur,' Says Lawyer
A federal court in Virginia recently granted McDonald’s USA, LLC’s motion to dismiss a former franchise employee’s Title VII and Virginia Human Rights Act claims. Edmonds v. McDonald’s USA, LLC, 2025 WL 1066193 (W.D. Va. Apr....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Supreme Court ruled that an isolated, one-time, use of a racial slur may be so severe—when viewed in relation to the totality of the circumstances—as to alter the conditions of employment,...more
Former Owner of Whitten Hotel Accused of Racist Behavior, Federal Agency Charges - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Roark-Whitten Hospitality 2, LP, doing business as the Whitten Inn, and its successor purchaser of the hotel SGI, LLC,...more
On March 7, 2023, in Dakota Powell vs. Prime Comms Retail LLC, the New Jersey Appellate Division ruled that a former employee must arbitrate her claims of race discrimination, rather than pursue them in court due to her...more
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
On March 24, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a district court’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) dismissal for failure to state a claim on a pro se plaintiff’s hostile work environment...more
A single word may be enough to land your dealership at the receiving end of a lawsuit – maybe even a jury trial. Especially, as an Illinois dealership recently learned, if that word is the most egregious racial epithet in the...more
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
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
On October 6, 2020, in Bennett v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, No. 19-5818, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a district court’s decision in favor of a public employee who claimed that the city...more
In recent years, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) has substantially lowered the legal bar for plaintiffs to demonstrate a hostile work environment based on...more
Fencing Company's Mistreatment of Black Employee, Including Racial Slurs and Noose Display, Forced Him to Quit, Federal Agency Charged - CHICAGO - A Melrose Park, Ill., fencing company will pay $25,000 and furnish other...more
President Donald Trump’s recent Tweet suggesting that four Democratic congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” has sparked robust debate across the country....more
A Los Angeles jury awarded a black former UCLA phlebotomist nearly $1.6 million in damages for being subjected to racial harassment by co-workers. Birden v. The Regents of the University of California, No. BC6681389 (Los...more
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
Government employees enjoy more protection than employees of private-sector companies when it comes to speaking their minds about politics or other matters of public concern outside the workplace. A public employee may not be...more
Over the past decade federal courts have demonstrated a decreasing willingness to tolerate the use of racist language in the workplace. In repeated circumstances, courts have found even a single use of a racial slur...more
Over the past several years, we have reported an increasing number of federal appeals court decisions that have characterized even single instances of certain racial slurs as sufficient to constitute hostile environment...more
It is one of the nightmare scenarios for any HR Department or in-house employment counsel: A white employee directing crude, vicious, racially charged slurs at an African-American employee. Perhaps the most inflammatory of...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Telling African-American employees “that if they had ‘n—– rigged’ the fence, they would be fired” may be enough, standing alone, to state a hostile work environment claim....more
Company Subjected Black Employees to Noose, Threats and Racial Slurs, Federal Agency Charged - MINNEAPOLIS - A Hugo, Minn., construction company will pay $125,000 to settle a racial harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S....more
Black Mechanic Forced to Quit After Enduring Slurs, Stereotypes and Retaliation, Says Federal Agency - SEATTLE - The largest producer of farmed shellfish in the United States, Taylor Shellfish, will pay $160,000 and...more
Action Item: The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a single isolated use of a racial slur may be sufficient to establish unlawful workplace harassment. Background and Analysis: On July 14, 2017, a...more
Black Employee Taunted with Racial Slurs and Death Threats, Federal Agency Charges - SEATTLE - One of the Western United States' largest sports retailers, Big 5 Sporting Goods, violated federal law when it allowed ongoing...more
In a decision issued July 14, 2017, the Third Circuit clarified that to prevail on workplace harassment claims, plaintiffs must show that the conduct was “severe or pervasive”—not “severe and pervasive” or “pervasive and...more