Discrimination

  • January 21, 2025

    Advocates Vow Suits Over Trump Orders On LGBTQ+ Rights

    An LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group succeeded in fighting executive orders issued during President Donald Trump's first term promised Tuesday to challenge his latest moves rolling back protections for transgender and nonbinary U.S. citizens.

  • January 21, 2025

    Harvard Settles Antisemitism Complaints By Student Groups

    Harvard University said Tuesday it has partially settled cases over the school's allegedly inadequate response to the harassment of Jewish students on campus amid protests over the war in Gaza.

  • January 21, 2025

    Employment Group Of The Year: Cohen Milstein

    The plaintiff-side law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC snagged over $78 million last year in settlements for workers who'd faced discrimination on the job, including big payouts from both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, earning the firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Employment Groups of the Year.

  • January 21, 2025

    Trump Orders Federal Workers Back To Office

    On his first day back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump ordered federal workers back to theirs.

  • January 20, 2025

    Trump Clears Way For Ban on Transgender Military Service

    President Donald Trump on Monday issued an executive order clearing the way to bring back a ban on transgender people serving openly in the military.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

    Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 20, 2025

    Trump Taps EEOC's Sole Republican As Acting Chair

    President Donald Trump selected the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's sole Republican appointee to lead the agency for now, but the new acting head will contend with a Democratic majority slated to keep hold of the five-seat agency through 2026.

  • January 17, 2025

    4 Tips To Help Employers Address LA Wildfires, Aid Workers

    As wildfires continue to cause extensive damage in Los Angeles, employers in the region face a challenge in maintaining safe workplaces and living up to their legal obligations. Here, management-side experts offer four tips for doing right by workers while staying on the right side of the law.

  • January 17, 2025

    Biden Says Equal Rights Amendment Is 'The Law Of The Land'

    President Joe Biden said Friday that he believes the Equal Rights Amendment has effectively become part of the U.S. Constitution and is "the law of the land," according to a statement from the White House.

  • January 17, 2025

    DOL's Subminimum Wage Rule Draws Support, Scrutiny

    The U.S. Department of Labor's proposed rule to end the program allowing employers to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities drew polarized opinions as the comment period ended Friday, with supporters arguing it is time to pay those workers fairly and critics saying the rule will limit workers' options.

  • January 17, 2025

    Predictions For Arbitration Carveout, NLRB Legality And More

    In the coming year, the debate over a carveout to federal arbitration requirements for interstate transportation workers is expected to heat up, while challenges to the National Labor Relations Board's constitutionality are set to continue and pay transparency laws will expand to more states. Here, Law360 takes a look at issues experts say are likely to hit the employment law world in 2025.

  • January 17, 2025

    EEOC Says GM, Union Benefit Rule Dings Older Auto Workers

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is challenging a General Motors policy that limits disability payments to Social Security recipients, accusing GM and the United Auto Workers in a lawsuit filed Friday in Indiana federal court of violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act by negotiating the policy.

  • January 17, 2025

    FCA Assembly Plant Rife With Sexual Harassment, EEOC Says

    Automobile maker FCA US LLC allowed sexual harassment to run rampant at a Detroit assembly plant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in federal court Friday, claiming the company ignored and pushed out women who complained about male colleagues' lewd comments.

  • January 17, 2025

    3rd Circ. Vexed By Remedies For Defunct Vax Mandate

    The Third Circuit wrestled Friday with how it could remedy injuries claimed to be suffered by nurses who lost their jobs for not complying with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, asking what order it could give about something that is no longer in effect and about jobs they no longer have.

  • January 17, 2025

    Ga. Judge Shoots Down Bias Deal Between Feds, Fire Dept.

    A Georgia federal judge has shot down a deal that would have resolved allegations of racial bias in hiring against a metro Atlanta county's fire department, ruling that the proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice lacked a basis to justify prioritizing future Black applicants.

  • January 17, 2025

    NY Forecast: Second Circuit Hears NYC IT Worker Bias Suit

    This week, the Second Circuit will consider a former New York City IT worker's claim that she faced sexual harassment and discrimination at her job and was ultimately forced from her position in retaliation for complaining.

  • January 17, 2025

    Ala. Recycling Plant Refused To Hire Women, EEOC Says

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told an Alabama federal court in a sex discrimination lawsuit Friday that a recycling plant declined to hire women for laborer positions simply because of their gender.

  • January 17, 2025

    Weinstein Victim Asks To Drop LA Civil Rape Suit, For Now

    A woman whom Harvey Weinstein was convicted of raping has moved to temporarily abandon her civil lawsuit against the disgraced movie mogul, nixing a scheduled March trial in California state court.

  • January 17, 2025

    Sam's Club Fired Worker For Off-The-Job Injuries, EEOC Says

    Sam's Club fired a food processor because she requested light-duty assignments following a car accident, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged Friday in Georgia federal court, saying the retailer based its decision on company policies barring accommodations for injuries sustained outside the workplace.

  • January 17, 2025

    Duke U. Strikes Deal In Female Scientist's Pay Bias Suit

    Duke University and a female scientist have brokered an agreement to end her suit claiming she was paid less than her male counterparts and was threatened with demotions after complaining about it, according to a Friday filing in North Carolina federal court.

  • January 17, 2025

    1st Circ. Revives Biotech Worker's COVID-19 Vax Challenge

    The First Circuit on Thursday resuscitated religious discrimination claims brought by a former pharmaceutical company employee who alleged her employer's COVID-19 vaccination mandate during the pandemic was in conflict with her sincerely held religious beliefs.

  • January 17, 2025

    EEOC Brought Back Record High $700M For Workers In 2024

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Friday it secured "the highest monetary recovery in its recent history" by bringing in $700 million for workers in the 2024 fiscal year.

  • January 17, 2025

    EEOC Turns To Federal Court To Enforce PWFA Subpoena

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asked an Illinois federal judge to back the agency's bid for information about a worker's claims that a freight shipping company wouldn't accommodate her pregnancy, marking the EEOC's first-ever suit to enforce a Pregnant Workers Fairness Act subpoena.

  • January 17, 2025

    1st Circ. Upends Heating Co.'s Win In Worker's ADA Suit

    The First Circuit revived a disability bias suit from a heating company worker who said his knee injury got him fired, ruling that a temporary injury can constitute a disability and that the case should be sent to a jury.

Expert Analysis

  • Inside OMB's Update On Race And Ethnicity Data Collection

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    The Office of Management and Budget's new guidelines for agency collection of data on race and ethnicity reflect societal changes and the concerns of certain demographics, but implementation may be significantly burdensome for agencies and employers, say Joanna Colosimo and Bill Osterndorf at DCI Consulting.

  • New Wash. Laws Employers Should Pay Attention To

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    The Washington Legislature ended its session last month after passing substantial laws that should prompt employers to spring into action — including a broadened equal pay law to cover classes beyond gender, narrowed sick leave payment requirements for construction workers and protections for grocery workers after a merger, say Hannah Ard and Alayna Piwonski at Lane Powell.

  • The Shifting Landscape Of Physician Disciplinary Proceedings

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    Though hospitals have historically been able to terminate doctors' medical staff privileges without fear of court interference, recent case law has demonstrated that the tides are turning, especially when there is evidence of unlawful motivations, say Dylan Newton and Michael Horn at Archer & Greiner.

  • Anti-DEI Complaints Filed With EEOC Carry No Legal Weight

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    Recently filed complaints against several companies' diversity, equity and inclusion programs alleging unlawful discrimination against white people do not require a response from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and should not stop employers from rooting out ongoing discriminatory practices, says former EEOC general counsel David Lopez.

  • How DEI Programs Are Being Challenged In Court And Beyond

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    In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmative action decision last year declaring the consideration of race in university admissions unconstitutional, employers should keep abreast of recent litigation challenging diversity, equity and inclusion training programs, as well as legislation both supporting and opposing DEI initiatives in the workplace, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • What Minority Biz Law Ruling Could Mean For Private DEI

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    A Texas federal court’s recent decision to strike down key provisions of the Minority Business Development Act illustrates the wide-reaching effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision across legal contexts, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Texas Hair Bias Ruling Does Not Give Employers A Pass

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    A Texas state court’s recent decision, holding that a school could discipline a student with locs for refusing to cut his hair, should not be interpreted by employers as a license to implement potentially discriminatory grooming policies, says Dawn Holiday at Jackson Walker.

  • Broadway Ruling Puts Discrimination Claims In The Limelight

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    A New York federal court's recent decision in Moore v. Hadestown Broadway that the employers' choice to replace a Black actor with a white actor was shielded by the First Amendment is the latest in a handful of rulings zealously protecting hiring decisions in casting, say Anthony Oncidi and Dixie Morrison at Proskauer.

  • Breaking Down California's New Workplace Violence Law

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    Ilana Morady and Patrick Joyce at Seyfarth discuss several aspects of a new California law that requires employers to create and implement workplace violence prevention plans, including who is covered and the recordkeeping and training requirements that must be in place before the law goes into effect on July 1.

  • Studying NY, NJ Case Law On Employee Social Media Rights

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    While a New Jersey state appeals court has twice determined that an employee's termination by a private employer for social media posts is not prohibited, New York has yet to take a stand on the issue — so employers' decisions on such matters still need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, say Julie Levinson Werner and Jessica Kriegsfeld at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Eye On Compliance: Employee Social Media Privacy In NY

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    A New York law that recently took effect restricts employers' ability to access the personal social media accounts of employees and job applicants, signifying an increasing awareness of the need to balance employers' interests with worker privacy and free speech rights, says Madjeen Garcon-Bonneau at Wilson Elser.

  • Draft Pay Equity Rule May Pose Contractor Compliance Snags

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    The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council's recently proposed rule that would prohibit government contractors from requesting certain job applicants' salary history seems simple on the surface, but achieving compliance will be a nuanced affair for many contractors who must also adhere to state and local pay transparency laws, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

  • What Texas Employers Should Know After PWFA Ruling

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    After a Texas federal judge recently enjoined federal agencies from enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act against the state of Texas, all employers must still remain sensitive to local, state and federal protections for pregnant workers, and proactive in their approach to pregnancy-related accommodations, says Maritza Sanchez at Phelps Dunbar.