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Articles Posted in Sexual Orientation

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🎧 I Went on a Podcast to Talk About the Supreme Court’s Ames Decision. Here’s Why Employers Should Listen.

You already know the plaintiff won. What you might not know is what that means for your workplace policies, documentation practices, and DEI strategy. I broke it all down on this week’s On Record PR podcast. TL;DR: I joined Gina Rubel to talk about the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in…

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Bias Doesn’t Care If You’re Straight. Now the Supreme Court Doesn’t Either.

Heterosexual employees don’t have to clear a higher hurdle than gay employees to claim discrimination. The Supreme Court just said so—unanimously. This case could reshape how Title VII claims are litigated—and it’s one employers should be paying close attention to. TL;DR: The Supreme Court struck down a rule that forced…

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Congress Revives LGBTQ+ Rights Bill: What Employers Should Know

This week, lawmakers in both the House and Senate reintroduced the Equality Act, a bill that would explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity across numerous areas of federal law. Although the bill has strong Democratic support, it lacks bipartisan backing—and given the political composition of Congress…

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AI Predicts Unanimous Supreme Court Ruling on Workplace Discrimination

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, a case where a heterosexual employee claimed her employer discriminated against her in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The key legal question isn’t whether she has a claim but…

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From Protection to Rejection: How The EEOC’s New Stance on Trans Rights and Gender Identity Impacts Employers

On Saturday, the Associated Press reported that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) moved to drop several lawsuits related to gender identity discrimination. Let’s examine what caused this change in direction and the implications for employers. Why the EEOC Filed the Lawsuits In one case filed last June, the EEOC…

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Why is the EEOC suddenly deleting gender identity discrimination resources from its website?

Earlier this week, I searched for LGBTQ+ resources on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) website. On Google, I found a page titled “Moving Towards Equality in the Workplace for LGBTQI+ Employees.” But when I clicked the link, I got an error message: “The requested page could not be…

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Can employers legally favor transgender employees over cisgender employees?

The words “cisgender” or “non-transgender” employee appear nowhere in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal workplace law that outlaws gender discrimination. But, according to a Pennsylvania federal judge, “that does not preclude the possibility that discrimination against both a cisgender male and cisgender female may…

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Must employers excuse workers with strong religious beliefs from respect-in-the-workplace training covering LGBT topics

After taking a few days off and rocking out in Seattle, I’m back to blogging about employment law. 🤘🤘🤘 Today, we pull back the curtain and reveal how the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will address failure-to-accommodate claims under the Supreme Court’s new religious accommodation standard established last year in…

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As one person found out on Monday, it’s not so easy to prove sexual orientation bias when you’re straight.

One of the largest jury verdicts in recent memory for a claim of employment discrimination was a $25.6 million award to a white manager who alleged that her former employer fired her because of her race. But these wins involving discrimination against the so-called “majority” are few and far between.…

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Can employees use their religion as an excuse not to work with LGBTQ coworkers?

Last week, the Supreme Court unanimously agreed that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires an employer that denies a religious accommodation to show that the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business. The next day, the…