Discrimination Law

New Checklist from OFCCP Related to Affirmative Action

The Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities and requires government contractors and subcontractors to take affirmative action to give jobs to and promote qualified individuals with disabilities.  According to the DOL, an affirmative action program is meant to provide individuals with disabilities with equal employment opportunity-it is supposed to be dynamic in nature […]

READ MORE

Stray Remarks by De Facto Decisionmaker Support Discrimination Claim

When is an employer liable for “stray” remarks? How connected do the stray remarks need to be to the adverse employment action? Earlier this summer, the Second Circuit reversed a district court’s award of summary judgment to an employer on a discrimination claim involving stray remarks in a denial of tenure case where the remarks […]

READ MORE

EEOC Rules– Sexual Orientation Discrimination Equals Sex Discrimination under Title VII

On July 15, 2015, the EEOC clarified that, at least for claims made against the federal government, all complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation constitute sex discrimination claims under Title VII. Baldwin v. Foxx, Secretary, Dept. of Transportation, EEOC Appeal No. 0120133080. The case involved David Baldwin, an air traffic controller who filed an […]

READ MORE

Transgender former police officer states a claim under Title VII-but fails to show sufficient evidence of discrimination

Last week, the district court ruled that although discrimination based on transgender status was a cognizable claim under Title VII, the plaintiff had failed to demonstrate that the rejection of her application to be part of a volunteer mounted patrol was discriminatory. Finkle v. Howard County, Maryland, Case No. SAG-13-3236 (D. Md. June 12, 2015).

READ MORE

Employers face possible claims for failure to accommodate even where there is no actual knowledge of a need for accommodation

Back in March, I posted about the case before the United States Supreme Court involving a girl who claimed that she was discriminated against because of her religion when Abercrombie & Fitch didn’t hire her because of her headscarf. The Tenth Circuit had found that because the plaintiff did not inform Abercrombie before its hiring […]

READ MORE

Can the EEOC come after your company without at least trying to resolve the matter?

Not without at least complying with its duty to attempt to conciliate the matter. In a unanimous decision issued last week, the Supreme Court held that courts have the authority to review whether the EEOC has fulfilled its obligations under Title VII to attempt conciliation. Mach Mining, LLC v. EEOC, No, 13-1019 (April 29, 2015). […]

READ MORE

Instagram intel—can an employer use it?

Let’s say one of your employees has a tendency to call in sick on Fridays when it just so happens to be 72 degrees and sunny out. Another employee reports to you that last Friday, that same worker posted a picture of herself on Instagram at a nearby water park, despite the fact that she […]

READ MORE

What if an employer fails to abide by its own disciplinary process—what’s the harm?

According to a decision from the First Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year, an employer’s failure to take action in accordance with its own disciplinary process could support a finding of discrimination. Soto-Feliciano v. Villa Cofresi Hotels, Inc., No. 13-2296 (February 20, 2015). Specifically, this failure can support a finding that an employer’s alleged […]

READ MORE

Supreme Court ruling strengthens protections under PDA

Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of protections afforded to pregnant women under the PDA, but stopped short of giving pregnant women “most-favored-nation” status. Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., Case No. 12-1226.

READ MORE

Does an employee have to specifically ask for a religious accommodation?

The United States Supreme Court heard argument this past week on this very issue in the case of EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., a case appealed from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Samantha Elauf was a teenager in Tulsa, Oklahoma who applied to work at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in 2008. […]

READ MORE