Employment Law Blog
$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...
Is a Long-Term Leave of Absence a Reasonable Accommodation?
January 23, 2018
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) provides a comprehensive mandate for the elimination of discrimination, including employment discrimination, against individuals with disabilities. Disability discrimination in employment is commonly thought to refer to an employer’s decision to terminate an employee because of...
How Can We Challenge Sexual Harassment in the Federal Judiciary?
January 9, 2018
Last month, allegations of sexual harassment against Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski showed that the federal judiciary is not immune from the type of insidious sexism that plagues every industry. The federal judiciary is largely immune, however, from the laws that protect victims of sexual harassment in other...
Employer May Have Violated Stored Communications Act by Accessing Employee's Personal Email
November 30, 2017
A federal court in Maryland recently found that an employer may have violated federal privacy law when it accessed a former employee’s personal emails on Google’s servers after she deleted them from a company mobile phone. In Levin v. ImpactOffice LLC, No. 8:16-cv-02790-TDC, 2017 WL 2937938 (D. Md. Jul. 10, 2017), the court...
New Title IX Guidance: Here's What You Need to Know
November 16, 2017
Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (Title IX) is an important statute that prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal financial assistance. Despite its simple purpose, navigating the legal complexities of Title IX can be confusing. This is especially the case in the context of...
The Impact on Employees of Workplace Sexual Harassment
November 8, 2017
In the wake of allegations detailing years of workplace sexual harassment perpetuated by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and other leading media personalities, employees, employers, and the public alike have been forced to consider how enduring such abuse impacts women. A recent study conducted in Denmark on workplace sexual...
3 Key Steps to Eliminating Harassment in the Workplace
November 2, 2017
Recent media reports, including the reported allegations against media executive Harvey Weinstein, are drawing attention to the pervasiveness of sexual harassment in the workplace. It is in the interest of both employees and employers to identify and eliminate harassment. Below are some steps that employers can take to be alert...
