Last night, I read a New Jersey federal court opinion involving a woman who lived and worked remotely in New Hampshire for a company in New Jersey. She sued under New Jersey law, alleging she received less pay than certain male co-workers. The defendants moved to dismiss the action because…
We began July with New York City starting to enforce its law that requires companies hiring with artificial intelligence to notify candidates, provide candidates with particular information about data collected and analyzed, and independently audit the technology. It’s all in the name of removing bias from the hiring process, which…
TL;DR: They don’t. Here’s a longer explanation. There comes a time in most discrimination lawsuits when a defendant-employer will file a motion for summary judgment. By filing that motion, the movant is telling the court that there are no material facts in dispute and, if the court applies the well-settled…
When most people think of federal anti-discrimination laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, they associate them with employees suing employers for things like discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environments. But Title VII covers more than just employers. For example, Title VII outlaws any employment practice…
I was going to title this one: “Sorry, I’m pretty sure that’s not how diversity, equity, and inclusion works.” It’ll make sense in a second. Back in 2017, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission caught wind that a senior vice president for human resources and diversity for a major pharmaceutical…
Let’s change up the facts from yesterday’s “free speech” blog post. Today’s plaintiff works for a public employer rather than a private one. She’s a lawyer running for political office. Instead of a racist Facebook post, the trouble brewed after she appeared on a public political podcast and stated that…
Today I bring you another example of how an employee does not forego their freedom of speech when working for a private employer. But, employees who speak out are not immune from the consequences of their speech either. In this case, racism. The plaintiff worked for six years as a…
In early 2020, an employee at a global food supplier left work early with flu-like symptoms. That day she obtained a doctor’s note recommending that she “stay out of work for three days, from February 19-21, 2020.” The employee requested to have five days off to recuperate. However, the note…
For every unicorn $25.6 million jury verdict you may read about online, thousands of discrimination cases fall well short of that mark. Way more never have a shot at making it to trial. And some don’t even have sufficient facts on the face of the complaint, which, if true, would establish…
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination based on a disability concerning employment. That includes refusing to hire someone based on an actual disability, a perceived disability, or a record of disability. Whether an employer regards a job applicant as having a disability or learns about a record of a…