Discrimination

  • January 27, 2025

    Employment Group Of The Year: Gibson Dunn

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP scored significant employer-side wins this year, including a Texas federal court's decision to nationally invalidate a federal rule banning noncompetes and defeating misclassification claims against Uber in Massachusetts, once again earning the firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Employment Groups of the Year.

  • January 27, 2025

    EEOC Drops Suit Seeking Settlement Cash From Delivery Co.

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dropped a suit against a food delivery company claiming it failed to fulfill its end of a settlement resolving a former worker's disability bias charge, telling a Virginia federal court that the company paid the missing cash.

  • January 27, 2025

    Philly VA Worker Fired Over Pregnancy Leave, Suit Says

    A food service worker at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center was denied her leave and accommodation requests during her pregnancy and eventually fired for being absent too much, she said in a suit filed in Pennsylvania federal court.

  • January 27, 2025

    Plastics Co. Settles EEOC Race Bias, Retaliation Suit

    A plastics manufacturer will pay a Black former worker $60,000 to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit brought in Wisconsin federal court claiming the business fired him days after he complained that a white worker leveled racial slurs at him.

  • January 24, 2025

    Companies Risk White House Wrath By Keeping DEI Programs

    For companies pushing forward with their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives amid a torrent of attacks from President Donald Trump and his allies, there are myriad potential risks ahead — and murky questions about the legal parameters of Trump's anti-DEI agenda.

  • January 24, 2025

    Mich. Justices Pass On FCA Employee's Racial Slur Appeal

    The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday refused to revive a Black man's racial discrimination lawsuit that alleged his supervisor at FCA US LLC regularly called him a racial slur, although two justices, while concurring with the decision, disagreed that the man insufficiently alleged a racially hostile work environment.

  • January 24, 2025

    DOL Ends All Contractor Bias Probes Following Trump Order

    The U.S. Department of Labor on Friday halted all investigations and enforcement in the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order earlier this week pulling a longstanding, core legal authority used to prevent federal contractors from discriminating against workers.

  • January 24, 2025

    Ex-Koch Managers Ask 11th. Circ. To Undo Assault Verdict

    The Eleventh Circuit on Friday considered whether to reverse assault and battery verdicts against two former Koch Foods human resource managers accused of inviting an employee to their home, propositioning her and subjecting her to disciplinary action at work when she refused their advances.

  • January 24, 2025

    BCBS Has 'High Hurdle' For New $13M Trial, Mich. Judge Says

    A Michigan federal judge on Friday told Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan it had a "high hurdle" to meet for him to say a new trial is warranted, after a jury awarded almost $13 million to a worker who was fired after being denied religious accommodation from the company's COVID-19 mandatory vaccine policy.

  • January 24, 2025

    4 Pitfalls Employers Face When They Wean Off Remote Work

    President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office requiring nearly all federal employees to return to physical offices, a shift away from telework that some private sector companies are also embracing. Here, experts discuss four errors that private employers make when implementing return-to-work policies.

  • January 24, 2025

    EEOC Disability Bias Suit Tossed Following Nixed Evidence

    A mortgage and financial services company on Friday defeated a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it unlawfully refused to hire a woman because she took pain medication, after a Washington federal judge ruled midtrial that a key piece of evidence shouldn't have been shown to jurors.

  • January 24, 2025

    'Vanderpump Rules' Alum's Racism Suit Sent To Arbitration

    A Los Angeles judge has ordered arbitration in "Vanderpump Rules" alum Faith Stowers' racism lawsuit against NBCUniversal Media and Bravo, saying the reality TV personality's contracts clearly required such disputes to be handled outside of court.

  • January 24, 2025

    LA Prosecutors Close Marilyn Manson Probe Without Charges

    Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced Friday he's declining to bring criminal charges against rock star Marilyn Manson, saying domestic violence allegations fall outside the statute of limitations and the office is unable to prove various women's sexual assault claims beyond a reasonable doubt.

  • January 24, 2025

    DOJ Seeks End Of SpaceX Challenge To Immigrant Bias Case

    A Texas federal judge on Friday paused a SpaceX lawsuit challenging administrative proceedings against the aeronautics company over its refusal to hire refugees and asylees, after the U.S. Department of Justice said it was considering ways to resolve the case.

  • January 24, 2025

    Calif. Forecast: $3.6M Freight Co. Wage Deal Could Get OK'd

    In the next week, attorneys should watch for the potential final approval of a $3.6 million settlement in a wage and hour class action against a freight carrier. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters on deck in California.

  • January 24, 2025

    EEOC Harassment Guidance Can Remain, For Now

    A Tennessee federal judge derailed an effort by a coalition of Republican state attorneys general to pause U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance on workplace harassment, after finding that a recent executive order issued by President Donald Trump may have nullified the legal challenge.

  • January 24, 2025

    10 AGs Target Major Banks Over DEI, ESG Initiatives

    Major financial institutions in the United States, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, could have made business decisions to follow political agendas, attorneys general from 10 states said, urging them to tackle a series of questions about their diversity and inclusion policies.

  • January 24, 2025

    Employment Group Of The Year: Shegerian & Associates

    Shegerian & Associates won two jury trials for an oncologist in her gender discrimination lawsuit and secured a $14 million award for a bank manager who was fired for taking leave to care for her critically ill husband, earning the firm a place among the 2024 Law360 Employment Groups of the Year.

  • January 24, 2025

    Baldoni Rebuts Atty Ethics Claims In 'It Ends With Us' Fight

    A lawyer representing Justin Baldoni has told a New York federal judge that statements his counsel has made to the press regarding the actor and director's thorny litigation with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds over the film "It Ends With Us" didn't violate ethical rules or prejudice proceedings.

  • January 24, 2025

    Thomson Reuters Settles With Ex-Worker Who Criticized BLM

    Thomson Reuters has settled a lawsuit claiming it wrongly fired a white data scientist in its Boston office for criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement on a company messaging system, according to a filing in federal court.

  • January 24, 2025

    Calif. Panel Remands Ex-DA Worker's Bias Suit Over Slur

    A California appeals panel reopened a discrimination lawsuit against the San Francisco District Attorney's Office by a Black ex-employee, saying a trial court should evaluate the city's response to a co-worker's racial slur given a state Supreme Court ruling that a single epithet can create a hostile work environment.

  • January 24, 2025

    NY Forecast: Judge Hears YouGov's Bid To Toss Bias Suit

    This week, a New York federal judge will consider YouGov's bid to toss a former executive's lawsuit claiming she was discriminated against because of her gender and ultimately forced to resign after she complained about her treatment.

  • January 23, 2025

    Buzbee Says Jay-Z Is Who Should Be Sanctioned In Diddy Suit

    Texas attorney Tony Buzbee tore into rapper Jay-Z's request that Buzbee be sanctioned for filing a suit accusing Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs of raping a 13-year-old, arguing that Jay-Z is merely trying to intimidate the accuser and that if anyone should be sanctioned, it's Jay-Z.

  • January 23, 2025

    Limits On Biden's Contracting Power Could Also Hinder Trump

    A Trump administration order barring federal contractors from engaging in diversity, equity and inclusion programs could face court challenges, following the path of decisions rejecting the Biden administration's arguments it had statutory authority for minimum wage and vaccine requirements.

  • January 23, 2025

    2nd Suit Filed Against Calif. Art Museum Over Bias Allegations

    Los Angeles contemporary art museum The Broad's former facilities director said in an age and race bias suit filed Thursday he was fired following a "pretextual 'witch-hunt'" stemming from its chief operating officer's hatred for white men and her unsubstantiated statements accusing him of being a misogynist.

Expert Analysis

  • What 2 Rulings On Standing Mean For DEI Litigation

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    Recent federal court decisions in the Fearless Fund and Hello Alice cases shed new light on the ongoing wave of challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, with opposite conclusions on whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Eye On Compliance: A Brief History Of Joint Employer Rules

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    It's important to examine the journey of the joint employer rule, because if the National Labor Relations Board's Fifth Circuit appeal is successful and the 2023 version is made law, virtually every employer who contracts for labor likely could be deemed a joint employer, say Bruno Katz and Robert Curtis at Wilson Elser.

  • Top 5 Issues For Employers To Audit Midyear

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    Six months into 2024, developments from federal courts and regulatory agencies should prompt employers to reflect on their progress regarding artificial intelligence, noncompetes, diversity initiatives, religious accommodation and more, say Allegra Lawrence-Hardy and Lisa Haldar at Lawrence & Bundy.

  • Tailoring Compliance Before AI Walks The Runway

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    Fashion industry players that adopt artificial intelligence to propel their businesses forward should consider ways to minimize its perceived downsides, including potential job displacements and algorithmic biases that may harm diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, say Jeffrey Greene and Ivory Djahouri at Foley & Lardner.

  • Where Anti-Discrimination Law Stands 4 Years After Bostock

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    On the fourth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Bostock ruling, Evan Parness and Abby Rickeman at Covington take stock of how the decision, which held that Title VII protects employees from discrimination because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, has affected anti-discrimination law at the state and federal levels.

  • Politics In The Workplace: What Employers Need To Know

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    As the 2024 election approaches and protests continue across the country, employers should be aware of employees' rights — and limits on those rights — related to political speech and activities in the workplace, and be prepared to act proactively to prevent issues before they arise, say attorneys at Littler.

  • What High Court Ruling Means For Sexual Harassment Claims

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    In its recent Smith v. Spizzirri decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a district court compelling a case to arbitration is obligated to stay the case rather than dismissing it, but this requirement may result in sexual harassment cases not being heard by appellate courts, says Abe Melamed at Signature Resolution.

  • 5 Steps For Gov't Contractor Affirmative Action Verification

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    As the federal contractor affirmative action program certification deadline approaches, government contractors and subcontractors should take steps to determine their program obligations, and ensure any required plans are properly implemented and timely registered, say Christopher Wilkinson at Perkins Coie and Joanna Colosimo at DCI Consulting.

  • New OSHA Memo Helps Clarify Recordkeeping Compliance

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    Based on recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidance on whether musculoskeletal disorders are recordable injuries under the agency's recordkeeping regulation, it appears that OSHA may target active release techniques and stretching programs during its inspections, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Cos. Must Stay On Alert With Joint Employer Rule In Flux

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    While employers may breathe a sigh of relief at recent events blocking the National Labor Relations Board's proposed rule that would make it easier for two entities to be deemed joint employers, the rule is not yet dead, say attorneys at ​​​​​​​Day Pitney.

  • One Contract Fix Can Reduce Employer Lawsuit Exposure

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    A recent Fifth Circuit ruling that saved FedEx over $365 million highlights how a one-sentence limitation provision on an employment application or in an at-will employment agreement may be the easiest cost-savings measure for employers against legal claims, say Sara O'Keefe and William Wortel at BCLP.

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

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    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Sick Leave Insights From 'Parks And Rec'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper spoke with Lisa Whittaker at the J.M. Smucker Co. about how to effectively manage sick leave policies to ensure legal compliance and fairness to all employees, in a discussion inspired by a "Parks and Recreation" episode.