Discrimination
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March 25, 2025
Construction Co. Inks Deal To End EEOC's Diabetes Bias Suit
A construction supply company has agreed to pay a former worker $150,000 to end a disability bias suit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming he was sacked for taking snack breaks to manage his diabetes, according to a court filing.
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March 25, 2025
Trump Taps EEOC Acting Chair Lucas To Serve Through 2030
President Donald Trump has nominated the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's acting chair and its sole Republican member, Andrea Lucas, to serve another five-year term at the agency.
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March 24, 2025
Colo. Judge Doubts Iffy Firing Facts Can Get Restaurant A Win
A Colorado federal judge was skeptical Monday that he, rather than a jury, should be the one to decide whether a seafood restaurant fired a worker because of her nationality or because she drank alcohol before a shift, in a suit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
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March 24, 2025
Ill. County Must Face Public Defender's 1st Amendment Claim
An Illinois federal judge on Friday trimmed a public defender's constitutional claims against her county employer after she was disciplined for displaying a photograph in an office area of her holding a gun in front of an Israeli flag following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, dismissing her First Amendment prior restraint claim but otherwise allowing her suit to proceed.
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March 24, 2025
Ill. Law Firm Accused Of Suing Wrong Co., Lying About Error
A doctor who sought to pursue an employment discrimination claim against former employer Humana Inc. claims in an Illinois state court lawsuit that the law firm he hired to handle his case filed claims against Cigna instead, forged his signature and didn't fix its attorneys' errors before the statute of limitations ran out.
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March 24, 2025
Judge Blocks Texas A&M's Drag Show Ban, Cites First Amendment
A federal judge in Houston on Monday blocked a Texas A&M University System policy banning drag performances on its campuses, writing that a student group's drag performance is a form of theater that could proceed this week as planned.
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March 24, 2025
Trump Taps Morgan Lewis Atty To Lead OFCCP
The Trump administration has selected a former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP attorney to lead the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, with the lawyer promising Monday to uphold the president's mandate of stripping the agency's legal authority to investigate bias complaints against federal contractors.
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March 24, 2025
EEOC Slams Hooters' 'Blatant Violation' Of Settlement Pact
Hooters isn't making good on its agreement to shell out $250,000 to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit claiming one of its restaurants refused to rehire Black employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, the EEOC told a North Carolina federal court.
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March 24, 2025
Pet Care Co. Ends EEOC Disability Bias Suit Over Drug Policy
A pet care facility has reached a deal with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to close a disability discrimination suit claiming it illegally yanked job offers from workers who tested positive for medication legally prescribed to them by doctors under a "zero tolerance" drug policy.
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March 24, 2025
Older Worker Says Logistics Co. Underpaid Him
A 76-year-old worker said he was forced to retire because a global logistics provider discriminated against him because of his age and disabilities and misclassified him as a manager to avoid paying him overtime, a lawsuit filed in North Carolina federal court said.
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March 24, 2025
Justices Turn Away Expelled College Student's Sex Bias Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to wade into a former University of Iowa graduate student's lawsuit claiming he was kicked out over sexual misconduct allegations, leaving in place the Eighth Circuit's conclusion that he'd failed to show he was targeted because of his gender.
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March 24, 2025
5th Circ. Backs Chevron Phillips Chemical In Bias Suit
The Fifth Circuit declined to revive a Black worker's suit claiming Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. fired him because of race and age discrimination, ruling he failed to put forward proof that bias drove the termination rather than his inability to pass a training exam.
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March 21, 2025
Paul Weiss Stuns Legal Industry With Trump DEI Deal
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP's decision to strike a deal with the Trump administration to defuse an executive order targeting the firm has drawn criticism across the legal industry and highlights the challenges preventing BigLaw firms from taking collective action against the White House.
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March 21, 2025
4th Circ. Says Longtime Bank Exec Can't Revive Age Bias Suit
The Fourth Circuit on Friday refused to reopen a former bank executive's lawsuit claiming he was demoted and ultimately fired after three decades because he was in his 60s, saying a lower court correctly determined that his disclosure of confidential information warranted termination.
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March 21, 2025
DOD Wants Transgender Ban Injunction Dissolved
The U.S. Department of Defense asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge Friday to lift an injunction blocking it from implementing a policy that the judge ruled wrongly banned transgender people from serving in the military, saying she had misinterpreted the policy.
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March 21, 2025
Employment Lawyers' Weekly DEI Cheat Sheet
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Justice Department issued joint guidance on spotting potentially unlawful diversity, equity and inclusion practices, the EEOC's acting chair demanded DEI information from 20 law firms, and President Donald Trump said he'd rescind an executive order that targeted Paul Weiss. Here's a rundown of the past week's DEI-related legal developments.
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March 21, 2025
Stifel Ends Sex Harassment Suit That Went Up To 2nd Circ.
Stifel Nicolaus & Co. has resolved a lawsuit from a banker who alleged her supervisor made sexual comments and touched her inappropriately, about six months after the Second Circuit found a law barring the mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment claims shielded her case.
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March 21, 2025
Ex-Jefferies Employee Says Age Bias Led To Termination
Investment bank Jefferies LLC has been sued by a former assistant vice president who alleged he was fired under the pretext of working from home too much and that he was actually a victim of age discrimination.
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March 21, 2025
How King & Spalding Helped LGBTQ+ Vets Win Back Benefits
More than a decade after the U.S. Department of Defense repealed its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which kept LGBTQ+ troops in the closet, veterans who were kicked out for their sexual orientation have continued to suffer the effects of a scarlet letter placed on their discharge papers.
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March 21, 2025
Calif. Civil Rights Agency Advances Workplace AI Regulations
California's civil rights agency voted Friday to finalize employment regulations governing the use of artificial intelligence tools, ending a monthslong process that included multiple rounds of public comment.
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March 21, 2025
1st Circ. Affirms Hold On Education Dept. Teacher Grant Cuts
The First Circuit on Friday kept in place a Massachusetts federal judge's temporary block on $250 million in cuts to teacher training grants that were targeted by the Department of Education over their ties to diversity initiatives.
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March 21, 2025
Black Ex-Manager Hits Lowe's With Racial Bias Claims In NC
A Black former manager at Lowes Companies Inc. has said that she was fired because of her race and that before her termination she was treated differently from white colleagues by her supervisor to the point that she was not given resources necessary to do her job.
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March 21, 2025
MGM Says Atty Fees Shouldn't Be Triple Mich. Worker's Award
MGM Grand Casino said attorneys for a fired employee cannot recoup more than three times the $133,000 a Michigan federal jury awarded him earlier this year in his lawsuit alleging he was improperly denied religious accommodation from the company's COVID-19 vaccine policy.
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March 21, 2025
Harvard Grad Eyes New Complaint In Antisemitism Suit
A former student on Thursday accused Harvard University of using "litigation tactics" to thwart an amended complaint in a suit over the Ivy League school's handling of antisemitic incidents on campus, after the school settled with some of the plaintiffs in the case.
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March 21, 2025
Religious Groups Say Reproductive Health Law Hinders Hiring
A Catholic diocese and anti-abortion pregnancy center claim a new Illinois law impedes religious employers' ability to hire people aligned with their missions, urging a federal court to halt the law, which prohibits employers from discriminating against workers because of their reproductive health decisions.
Expert Analysis
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Employer Tips For PUMP Act Compliance As Law Turns 2
Enacted in December 2022, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act requires employers to provide reasonable break time and a private space for employees to express breast milk, but some companies may still be struggling with how to comply, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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What To Know About Ill. Employment Law Changes
Illinois employers should review their policies in light of a number of recent changes to state employment law, including amendments to the state’s Human Rights Act and modifications to the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act, say attorneys at Kilpatrick.
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Mich. Whistleblower Ruling Expands Retaliation Remedies
The Michigan Supreme Court's recent Occupational Health and Safety Act decision in Stegall v. Resource Technology is important because it increases the potential exposure for defendants in public policy retaliation cases, providing plaintiffs with additional claims, say Aaron Burrell and Timothy Howlett at Dickinson Wright.
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How States Are Approaching AI Workplace Discrimination
As legislators across the U.S. have begun addressing algorithmic discrimination in the workplace, attorneys at Reed Smith provide an overview of the status, applicability and provisions of 13 state and local bills.
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The Risks Of Employee Political Discourse On Social Media
As election season enters its final stretch and employees increasingly engage in political speech on social media, employers should beware the liability risks and consider policies that negotiate the line between employees' rights and the limits on those rights, say Bradford Kelley and James McGehee at Littler.
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7th Circ. Rulings Offer Employee Vaccine Exemption Guidance
Dawn Solowey and Samantha Brooks at Seyfarth explain how two recent Seventh Circuit rulings in Passarella v. Aspirus and Bube v. Aspirus could affect litigation involving employee vaccine exemptions, and discuss employer best practices for handling accommodation requests that include both religious and secular concerns.
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Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance
An August decision from the Ninth Circuit and the settlement of a long-running class action, both examining paid leave requirements under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, are part of a nationwide trend that should prompt employers to review their military leave policies to avoid potential litigation and reputational damage, says Bradford Kelley at Littler.
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Old Employment Law Principles Can Answer New AI Concerns
Despite growing legal and regulatory concerns about how artificial intelligence tools may affect employment decisions and worker rights, companies should take comfort in knowing that familiar principles of employment law and established compliance regimes can still largely address these new twists on old questions, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.
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NYC Wage Info Bill Highlights Rise In Pay Transparency Laws
With New York City the latest to mull requiring companies to annually report employee wage data, national employers should consider adapting their compliance practices to comply with increasingly common pay transparency and disclosure obligations at state and local levels, says Kelly Cardin at Littler Mendelson.
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Workday AI Bias Suit Suggests Hiring Lessons For Employers
As state laws and a federal agency increasingly focus on employment bias introduced by artificial intelligence systems, a California federal court's recent decision to allow a discrimination suit to proceed against Workday's AI-driven recruitment software, shows companies should promptly assess these tools' risks, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.
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How Anti-DEI Bill Could Affect Employers' Diversity Efforts
Sen. J.D. Vance's recently introduced Dismantle DEI Act would substantially limit employers’ ability to implement and promote workplace diversity, equity and inclusion, but there are still steps employers can take to support a diverse workforce, says Peter Ennis at Cozen O’Connor.
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US Labor And Employment Law Holds Some Harsh Trade-Offs
U.S. labor and employment laws have evolved into a product of exposure-capping compromise, which merits discussion in a presidential election year when the dialogue has focused on purported protections of middle-class workers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Water Cooler Talk: Immigration Insights From 'The Proposal'
Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with their colleague Robert Lee about how immigration challenges highlighted in the romantic comedy "The Proposal" — beyond a few farcical plot contrivances — relate to real-world visa processes and employer compliance.