Articles Posted in Sexual Orientation

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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.

Just getting the case to trial is difficult. Continue reading

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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 The next day, the Supreme Court concluded in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that the First Amendment superseded a state’s anti-discrimination law which would have forced a website designer who does not believe in same-sex marriage to create wedding websites for gay couples.

Since then, I’ve seen folks asking whether employees with sincerely-held religious beliefs about same-sex marriage can get a religious accommodation from their employer to refuse to work with a gay coworker? Continue reading

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So when the plaintiff in this federal court decision I read last night cited as evidence of her employer’s heterosexual animus that her gay coworker received a cake and party by gay supervisors on his 30th work anniversary, whereas she did not receive cake or party for the same occasion, my Spidey senses were really tingling. Continue reading

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Who is my “source”?

I got the scoop from EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas, who updated us on LinkedIn over the weekend about a Tennessee federal judge who entered this preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from implementing this technical assistance document issued in June 2021 that purports to explain employers’ post-Bostock obligations under Title VII concerning dress codes, bathrooms, locker rooms, shows, and use of preferred pronouns or names.

So, where did the EEOC go awry? Continue reading

Over at the FisherBroyles Employment Law Blog, my partner, Amy Epstein Gluck, wrote here about a recent federal court finding that a Catholic school could not avoid discrimination claims after firing a gay teacher from a secular position.

Serendipitously, I just read a story about a lesbian seeking to become a women’s lacrosse coach at a Catholic high school. The school initially withdrew the offer. But, this story has a happy ending. Continue reading

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Danachos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Thank you for all of the positive feedback and comments both via email and here on LinkedIn following yesterday’s transgender pronoun post. Many of the requests were for additional resources to promote a trans-inclusive workplace. Continue reading

“Doing What’s Right – Not Just What’s Legal”
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