A Brief History of Title VII
At 7:40 on the evening of June 19, after the longest debate in its nearly 180-year history (534 hours), the U.S. Senate passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The vote in favor of the bill was 73 to 27....
View ArticleCourt Finds Abercrombie & Fitch Committed Religious Discrimination
A federal court has agreed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that Abercrombie & Fitch committed religious discrimination against a 17-year-old Muslim girl. According to...
View ArticleHR Practice Pointer: What is a BFOQ?
A BFOQ is an acronym for Bona Fide Occupational Qualification. The term is explained in Title VII, which provides that in very limited situations an employer may discriminate on the basis of “religion,...
View ArticleSame Evidence May Be Used To Assess Sufficiency of Harassment and Retaliation...
A Wal-Mart store in Humacao, Puerto Rico, must defend a lawsuit alleging sexual both sexual harassment and retaliation even though the evidence regarding sexual harassment and retaliation overlaps. The...
View ArticleUSCCR Recommends That Title VII be Amended to Permit “English Only” Policies
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (“USCCR”) has issued a report (English Only Policies in the Workplace )which recommends that English-only policies in the workplace should be lawful unless the...
View ArticleEmployers Must Implement Consistent Disciplinary Policies and Procedures
A recent case, Eaton v. Indiana Department of Corrections, illustrates how important it is for employers to implement consistent disciplinary policies and procedures. The case involves Autumn Eaton who...
View ArticleEmployer Must Pay $267,000 to Settle EEOC Sexual Harassment Claim
Real estate developer Lakemont Homes, Inc. and its subsidiary Lakemont Homes Nevada will pay $267,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC...
View ArticleMinisterial Exemption Bars Employee’s Claim Against Church for Wrongful...
Sara Henry sued Red Hill Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tustin (“the Church”) for wrongful termination pursuant to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) and for wrongful termination...
View ArticleEmployers Must Ensure That Pre-Employment Background Checks Are Not...
As a recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) case demonstrates, employers must ensure that pre-employment background checks are not discriminatory. The case involves Pepsi Beverages...
View ArticleCourt Reverses $2 Million Dollar Judgment Against City of Los Angeles for...
The California Court of Appeal, 2nd District, has reversed a $2 million dollar judgment against the City of Los Angeles (City). The case involved Richard Joaquin, a Los Angeles Police Department...
View ArticleEmployer Pays $140k for Alleged Pregnancy Discrimination
Olam Americas, Inc., has settled a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for $140,000 and other relief, including providing annual EEO training to all employees at...
View ArticleVoluntary Benefits Provided in a Discriminatory Manner May Constitute an...
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit, emphasizes that if an employer provides benefits in a discriminatory manner that may constitute an adverse employment action even if the...
View ArticleSupreme Court to Decide Scope of Employer’s Liability for Supervisor Harassment
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide the important question of whether, as the Second, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits have held, the “supervisor” liability rule (a) applies to harassment by those...
View ArticleEEOC Provides Guidance on the Application of Title VII and the ADA to...
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits...
View ArticleCalifornia Court of Appeal Rules Refusal to Cooperate With Company...
A California court of appeal has recently ruled that an employee is not protected by the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) for refusing to participate in or cooperate with a Company...
View ArticleTermination of Muslim Employee for Wearing Hijab Was Illegal, According to...
A federal judge has found Abercrombie & Fitch liable for religious discrimination for firing Muslim employee Umme-Hani Khan for wearing her hijab (religious headscarf). The ruling came in a lawsuit...
View ArticleEmployer Sued for Race Discrimination Over Ban on Dreadlocks
Catastrophe Management Solutions, a Mobile catastrophic insuranceclaims company, has been sued for race discrimination by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for allegedly discriminating...
View ArticleEEOC Releases FY 2013 Enforcement and Litigation Data
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released its 2013 Enforcement and Litigation Data, which can be found here. The data indicate that the EEOC obtained the highest monetary...
View ArticleLegislation Introduced to Overturn "Vance" Decision on Definition of a...
On June 24, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision in Vance v. Ball State University which made it more difficult to establish employer liability for harassment by a supervisor by...
View ArticleHR Practice Pointer: What is a BFOQ?
A BFOQ is an acronym for Bona Fide Occupational Qualification. The term is explained in Title VII, which provides that in very limited situations an employer may discriminate on the basis of “religion,...
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