Discrimination

  • August 20, 2025

    Mortgage Firm Settles Harassment, Retaliation Lawsuit

    CrossCountry Mortgage LLC and a branch manager have reached a settlement with a former employee in a sexual harassment and retaliation suit, the parties recently announced.

  • August 20, 2025

    4th Circ. Revives Firefighter's State Claim Over Demotion

    The Fourth Circuit reinstated a state law whistleblower claim Wednesday from a firefighter for a Virginia city who said she was unfairly demoted after being accused of making an offensive comment about a gay coworker, but backed the dismissal of her federal sex bias and retaliation claims.

  • August 20, 2025

    Conn. Stylist Ends Wage, Anti-Polish Bias Suit Against Salon

    After the parties reported a settlement in principle, a Connecticut federal judge has agreed to dismiss claims that a Greenwich hair salon underpaid an employee's wages, failed to pay overtime and discriminated against the worker because she is from Poland.

  • August 20, 2025

    Microsoft Fired Manager Despite Army Praise, Suit Says

    Microsoft removed a federal contract manager in Germany and later fired her after she pursued disability and retaliation claims, even as the U.S. Army expanded its contract with the company and praised her work, according to a complaint filed in Washington federal court.

  • August 20, 2025

    Kwik Trip To Pay $35K To Settle EEOC Disability Bias Probe

    Midwest gas and convenience store chain Kwik Trip has agreed to pay $35,000 after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found reasonable cause to believe it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by bungling a kitchen worker's request for an accommodation.

  • August 20, 2025

    Fired Pharma Co. VP Must Arbitrate Sex Bias Claims

    A Connecticut federal judge said a former Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals LLC vice president must arbitrate his sex bias suit claiming his female boss mistreated him and gave him a low performance rating because he is a man, ruling his case isn't covered by a law barring sex misconduct claims from out-of-court resolutions.

  • August 20, 2025

    Fla. Court Revives Hospice Worker's Disability Bias Suit

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday revived a hospice worker's disability discrimination suit, ruling that her claims are not time-barred because the Florida Commission on Human Relations has not yet officially given her notice about her claim that would conclude the administrative process.

  • August 20, 2025

    Colo. Atty Accused Of Racial Bias, Defamation In CEO Firing

    The former president and CEO of a Colorado nonprofit has accused a Denver-based attorney and board member of discrimination and defamation over his 2024 firing.

  • August 20, 2025

    Loeb & Loeb Adds Allen Matkins Employment Atty In SF

    Loeb & Loeb LLP is expanding its West Coast team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing in an Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP employment litigator as a partner in its San Francisco office.

  • August 20, 2025

    Former J&J Atty Slams Sanctions Bid Over Bias Suit

    A former Johnson & Johnson data privacy attorney suing the pharmaceutical giant over alleged racial discrimination told a New Jersey federal court that the company's sanctions motion is an unfair move to "weaponize" the rules of civil procedure.

  • August 20, 2025

    DOJ's Suit Over Ill. E-Verify Restrictions Gets Tossed

    An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday denied a bid by the U.S. Department of Justice to block provisions of a recently amended Illinois law restricting the use of systems such as E-Verify to check prospective workers' employment eligibility and dismissed the case outright, calling the DOJ's interpretation of the relevant preemption clause "broad to the point of absurdity."

  • August 20, 2025

    Nurse Fired After Patient Death Wins $20M Race Bias Verdict

    A Colorado federal jury awarded $20 million to a Black nurse who it found was fired out of race bias and retaliation by a medical center that she said falsely accused her of mishandling a patient's end-of-life care, which led to criminal charges against her that were ultimately dropped.

  • August 19, 2025

    Expert Chides Charlotte Housing Authority Over Missing Docs

    An expert witness turned the tables on the attorney questioning her Tuesday during a former public housing authority coordinator's hostile work environment and retaliation trial in North Carolina after defense counsel questioned how she could accurately opine on the authority's operations without having seen key documents, saying it wasn't because she didn't ask for them.

  • August 19, 2025

    Ga. Salon's Ex-Worker Sues Over 'Egregious' Sexual Abuse

    An Atlanta hair salon has been hit with a lawsuit from a former employee alleging that she was "systematically preyed upon and sexually assaulted" by its owner, who she says pressured her into performing sexual favors and retaliated against other workers who tried to intervene.

  • August 19, 2025

    Judge Backs NBA In Referee's Vaccine Mandate Fight

    The NBA secured a partial victory in a religious discrimination lawsuit challenging its COVID-19 protocols, with a Manhattan federal judge tossing the testimony of a fired referee's expert witness and ruling that the league's refusal to let him work unvaccinated was a justified business necessity.

  • August 19, 2025

    4 Do's & Don'ts Of New York Prenatal Leave Requirements

    New York State’s prenatal leave law is at the vanguard of paid leave progress and with New York City’s added obligations, employers in the Empire State should remember to follow the more worker-friendly requirement. Here, Law360 explores four do’s and don’ts of New York’s robust prenatal leave landscape.

  • August 19, 2025

    Connecticut Cruise Line Settles Background Check Suit

    A Connecticut-based cruise line has reached a settlement with a former job applicant in a putative class action accusing the company of violating a prospective employee's rights by refusing to share a copy of his background check with him before rejecting him.

  • August 19, 2025

    EEOC Says Food Co. Fired Pregnant Worker Illegally

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told a North Carolina federal court Tuesday that a meat processing company violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act by forcing a pregnant laborer onto unpaid leave and eventually firing her rather than offering light-duty work or other job modifications doctors had recommended.

  • August 19, 2025

    8th Circ. Revives Suit From Jail Official Fired For Hate Speech

    The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday reinstated a religious discrimination lawsuit from a former Iowa county jail administrator who was sacked over a lengthy treatise he posted online that characterized the "gay lifestyle" as an "abomination" and called Muslims "pawns to the devil."

  • August 19, 2025

    Fanatics, NFT Co. Get Parental Leave Suit Narrowed

    Fanatics LLC and a digital collectibles company knocked out part of a suit from a former executive who said he was fired for seeking parental leave, with a New York federal judge nixing his retaliation claim but letting allegations that the companies interfered with his leave rights move ahead.

  • August 19, 2025

    Chicago Suburb Sued Over Medical History Probes

    The city of Evanston, Illinois, was hit with a state court lawsuit by job applicants who allege its questions about their family medical histories violated an Illinois law barring employers from asking about genetic information and using it to make employment decisions.

  • August 19, 2025

    Union Pacific Can't Avoid $27M Disability Bias Verdict

    A former Union Pacific railroad worker who said he was pushed out over a shoulder injury can keep his $27 million jury award, an Oregon federal judge ruled, attributing the bulk of the recovery to a state law claim that wasn't limited by federal damages caps.

  • August 19, 2025

    Trump's 'Abnormal' Use Of FCA Could Get Tricky In Court

    The Trump administration is wielding the False Claims Act in unusually narrow ways to drive policies on social and cultural issues — including gender-affirming care and diversity, equity and inclusion programs — but the government's potential theories of liability under the federal law remain largely untested and might not hold up in court, experts say.

  • August 18, 2025

    9th Circ. Splits Over Ore.'s Denial Of Christian Youth Grants

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Monday largely upheld a lower court's refusal to preliminarily block Oregon's requirement that recipients of certain youth grants agree not to discriminate on the basis of religion, though it also said the rule is unconstitutional if it restricts any initiatives that aren't tied to the grants.

  • August 18, 2025

    Texas Judge Stays PWFA Suit After 5th Circ. Decision

    A Texas federal judge on Monday stayed a challenge to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act after the Fifth Circuit ruled in a separate case that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission could enforce the law.

Expert Analysis

  • The Key Changes In Revised FDIC Hiring Regulations

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    Attorneys at Ogletree break down the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new rule, effective Oct. 1, that will ease restrictions on financial institutions hiring employees with criminal histories, amend the FDIC's treatment of minor offenses and clarify its stance on expunged or dismissed criminal records.

  • Employer Tips For PUMP Act Compliance As Law Turns 2

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    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.

  • What To Know About Ill. Employment Law Changes

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    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.

  • Mich. Whistleblower Ruling Expands Retaliation Remedies

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    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.

  • How States Are Approaching AI Workplace Discrimination

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    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.

  • The Risks Of Employee Political Discourse On Social Media

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    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.

  • 7th Circ. Rulings Offer Employee Vaccine Exemption Guidance

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    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.

  • Employers Should Not Neglect Paid Military Leave Compliance

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    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.

  • Old Employment Law Principles Can Answer New AI Concerns

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    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.

  • NYC Wage Info Bill Highlights Rise In Pay Transparency Laws

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    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.

  • Workday AI Bias Suit Suggests Hiring Lessons For Employers

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    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.

  • How Anti-DEI Bill Could Affect Employers' Diversity Efforts

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    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.

  • US Labor And Employment Law Holds Some Harsh Trade-Offs

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    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.