An employee’s attempt to end fifty years of discrimination-law precedent went nowhere on appeal. But, two of the three judges who rejected it wrote separately to say they’d take another case just to do it.
One racial slur wasn’t enough to put a company on notice. A federal appeals court explained why and upheld the jury’s verdict for the employer.
Last year, a jury hit the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the professional association many HR practitioners look to for certifications and guidance, with a $10 million punitive damages verdict. Now its own insurance company says that’s SHRM’s bill to pay, not theirs.
On July 21, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted, publicly, to kill sixty years of federal race, sex, and national origin reporting. Cue the sad violins. This is happening.
An employee accused his manager of anti-Black bias over comments made eight months earlier. A federal appeals court said the comments were about politics, not race, and the case fell apart.
She said the training singled out white employees as inherently racist. Her own testimony said otherwise, and that’s what sank her case.
An employer investigated a racial harassment complaint, offered a transfer, and watched the harassment continue. A federal appeals court just sent the hostile work environment claims to a jury.
She filed an EEOC charge. She just didn’t file the right one.
A racial slur used in 2007 was still admissible evidence at a 2024 trial. The employer’s failure to address it helped produce a $21 million verdict.
The city’s civil-service commission told it to follow its own hiring policies. It didn’t. It still won.
The Employer Handbook Blog