Employment Law Blog
Rideshare Services Rescind Arbitration Requirements in Cases of Sexual Assault and Harassment. But There’s Still Work to Do.
August 23, 2018
Since the New Yorker published its article exposing Harvey Weinstein’s rampant sexual harassment in October last year, the #MeToo movement has shined a national spotlight on our institutions’ failures to protect and empower survivors of sexual harassment and assault. As the public has learned more about how the legal...
Maternal Walls and Glass Ceilings in the #MeToo Era
July 26, 2018
Women’s advancement in the workplace is often obstructed by invisible barriers. “Maternal walls” – erected on assumptions that women will eventually become pregnant and either leave the workforce or become less productive after having children – regularly channel women into lower paying jobs during their childbearing years. And...
EEOC Pushes Boundaries of Harassment Liability in Select Staffing Lawsuit
June 29, 2018
Earlier this month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit on behalf of female employees of Select Staffing, a temporary staffing agency operating in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who were sexually harassed during their job placements with the Albuquerque Police Department Inspection of Public Records Act...
Changes to Sexual Harassment Law Could Help Victims in NYC, Minnesota
June 13, 2018
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, several states and localities have proposed or enacted workplace protections that are more robust than Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal statute prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace. As a general rule, federal employment law sets a “floor”—that is, the minimum...
Salary History Not a Defense to Equal Pay Act Claims, 9th Circuit Says
May 16, 2018
Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a landmark decision in the decades-long fight against the sex-based pay gap, holding that the Equal Pay Act (the “Act”) forbids employers from considering an employee’s salary history when setting the employee’s compensation. This decision provides an immediate...
Will Nixing Arbitration in Sexual Harassment Claims Affect Other Employment Claims?
May 1, 2018
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, lawmakers and employers across the country seeking to avoid public scorn are taking steps that benefit employees who experience sexual harassment in the workplace. For instance, in December 2017, the major U.S. technology company Microsoft announced it will no longer require employees to...
$13M Jury Award Given to UCLA Doctor for Sex Discrimination, Retaliation
March 29, 2018
Last month, a former physician at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center prevailed on state law claims of sex discrimination and retaliation, for which the jury awarded $13 million, while it found against her on her claim of age discrimination. This significant award is a welcome indication that jurors...
Zarda v. Altitude Express: Another Federal Court Breakthrough on Sexual Orientation Discrimination
March 13, 2018
On Feb. 26, 2018, the Second Circuit issued an en banc opinion in Zarda v. Altitude Express, and joined the Seventh Circuit, the EEOC, and some lower federal courts in holding that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) protects employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation. The opinion...
Legal Alert: Sixth Circuit Upholds Title VII Protections for Transgender Employees
March 7, 2018
The U.S. Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit held today that R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act when it fired a funeral director after she told her boss that she planned to transition from male to female.
Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex, among other...
What is the Difference Between Workplace Bullying and Illegal Sexual Harassment?
February 27, 2018
Not all employees who face bullying in the workplace have actionable sexual harassment claims against their employers. Screaming bosses, coworkers who intentionally undermine one another’s success, and supervisors who set what seem like impossibly high standards can make for an objectively “hostile” work environment. But under...
