Federal courts lack jurisdiction to review FBI security clearances, even if the clearance issue arises in a Title VII claim, according to the 9th Circuit.
Federal courts do not have the power to review an agency’s decision to grant or revoke a security clearance. See [Dorfmont v. Brown, 913 F.2d 1399, 1401 (9th Cir. 1990)]. This lack of […]
Allegations of an unsafe work environment, unresponsive management at Big Law: a law student perspective
This morning news of a claim filed with both the EEOC and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination against Boston firm Bingham McCutchen began making the rounds, and by noon the blawgosphere was in its typical frenzy. Michelle A. Moor, an ex-associate […]
Ledbetter: In his presentation on U. S. Supreme Court opinions, Edwin Chemerinsky predicted that the Court would issue 65 opinions this term (down from 68 last year). As to Ledbetter v. Goodyear, he expressed surprise that the employee hadn’t petitioned for cert on the Equal Pay Act claim, stressed that the majority hadn’t decided whether equitable […]
In what creates a split between the federal circuits, a man who was fired after his fiance filed a discrimination charge against his employer was allowed to proceed with a suit for retaliation. The 3rd, 4th, and 8th Circuits have decided to the contrary. Thompson v. North American Stainless, ____F3rd___, No. 07-5040 (6th Circuit, March […]
The United States House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms demoted Standley Brady, a supervisor, after it concluded he grabbed his crotch in front of three employees. Brady sued under Titile VII, claiming he was demoted because of his race. The District Court granted summary judgment for the Sergeant at Arms on two grounds: (1) that […]
Female brokers at Smith Barney will be paid $33 million by Citigroup, Inc., for the company’s continuing to discriminate after a 1997 settlement of a federal court sexual harassment case. The suit filed in 2005 did not allege harassment, but contended the company did not live up to the promises made in the earlier settlement. As many […]
This is a 6th Circuit case where the plaintiff sued the company and its successor under the FMLA, Title VII, and state law. The appeals court held that where the defendant research and development company for the automotive industry (USCAR) employed contractor employees from another company, and that company was taken over by a third […]
Judge Timothy Burgess has denied part of the defendant employer’s reconsideration motion in this Title VII action alleging age, race, and parental status discrimination. The pro se plaintiff seems to be doing a good job of keeping the race part of her case alive. Judge Burgess earlier denied the employer’s summary judgment motion, and addressed […]
Friday’s opinion by Judge Stephen Reinhardt in Davis v. Team Electric Co. addresses many of the problems confronted by women trying to enter, and to stay in the workforce on construction sites. As you might guess from the identity of the opinion’s author, the results are almost uniformly favorable to the female plaintiff.
Christie Davis worked […]
The 9th Circuit has issued a major opinion on Title VII protections for women in the construction industry. The Court (per Reinhardt) has reversed summary judgment for the employer, and, in the course, addressed disparate treatment, retaliation, and hostile work environment claims. Paul Eaglin, from Fairbanks, was the successful pro bono/appointed counsel on appeal. I’ll […]
It is well-settled Supreme Court law that an EEOC right-to-sue letter is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to a Title VII action. It’s a conditional precedent that may be waived by the parties or the court. Zipes v. TransWorld Airlines, Inc. 455 U.S. 385 (1982). In this morning’s case, the ex-employee filed with the state (California) […]
An Alaskan who has filed an EEOC charge against the Salvation Army’s Clitheroe Treatment Center on Bragaw in Anchorage has created a fancy website (and bought ads on other web sites) to publicize his or her complaints of discrimination.
02/25/08 Update: You can see the employee’s Google Ad on today’s Talking Points Memo.
ERISA preemption of municipal regulation of “health care expenditures”: After the District Court enjoined the implementation of San Francisco’s ordinance requiring larger private employers to make provide health care expenditures, the Court of Appeals has now stayed that injunction and issued a lengthy opinion (35 pages) holding that the City and the union intervenors have “a probability, […]
“Mom” as discrimination: A supervisor told an employee that part of the reason she was not promoted was because she was a “mom.” Is that direct evidence of sex discrimination? Not according to the 9th Circuit (Farris and Beezer) in an unpublished opinion:
The term “mom” means “mother,” which is a “female parent.” Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate […]
The Court of Appeals this morning amended its earlier affirmance of class certification in Dukes v. WalMart, but the result is still 2-1 in favor of certification.
Update: Paul Mollica analyzes the changes in this entry at Developments in EEO Law.
A recent Gannett News article surveys the various Title VII and FMLA claims that employers face from employees who provide care to family members.
We earlier covered the new (May 23, 2007) EEOC Guidance on employer responsibilities toward these employees.
According to the article, EEOC’s action was prompted by an upsurge in claims filed by caregivers, including pregnant employees and […]
In an unpublished failure-to-promote race case, the 9th Circuit reversed a directed verdict for the employer after holding that the employee had presented enough evidence to get to a jury on the following bases:
Comparative qualifications:
Gibson need not prove that he would have been promoted “but for” his race - i.e., that he was the ‘clearly […]
Comparative qualifications are irrelevant if the plaintiff fails the prima facie test
If an employer rejects the mostly highly qualified applicant, and that applicant is a member of the protected class, must the case go to the jury? No, says the Alaska Supreme Court - not if the applicant has not met the other criteria for a prima facie case.
Clarito […]
The Court of Appeals held this morning that the EEOC may not prosecute Title VII claims on behalf of several of ex-Governor Hickel’s policymaking assistants, Margaret Ward and Lydia Jones (now deceased). The Court (Noonan and Wallace) held that the 1991 Government Employee Rights Act was ineffective to waive the State’s sovereign immunity because it lacked a factual […]
Employee counsel frequently hear about complaints of sexual harassment from teenage employees at fast food outlets. Today’s opinion by Judge Richard Posner in EEOC v. V & J Foods, Inc., 2007 WL 3274364 (7th Cir. Nov. 7, 2007), offers useful information to both teenage employees and fast food operators.
Complaint procedures for minors: First, Posner discusses the Faragher-Ellerth defense to […]
Member claims against a union: The 9th Circuit has affirmed judgment against a union under both Title VII and DFR theories.
DFR claim: The Court affirmed a trial court’s findings that a union had breached its duty by failing to file a timely grievance when the union has agreed to do so, and that such conduct substantially injured the […]
The Seattle office of the EEOC has sued NEA-Alaska on behalf of Denise Poole and a class of all similarly-situated female employees, alleging harassment and intimidation on the basis of sex, and for retaliatory harassment and intimidation as a result of having complained about the underlying harassment.
The present suit follows an earlier one for similar alleged […]
Court of Appeals Affirms Judge Sedwick; Result may Differ under Alaska Law
The City of Mesa, Arizona, required Christine Nilsson, an applicant for a police position, to waive any claims arising out of the City’s pending investigation of her background. After she complied, the investigation proceeded and revealed an EEOC dispute with a previous employer, workers comp claims, […]
The Seattle office of the EEOC sued Zales, alleging that it had denied Christina Kantarzis a promotion at the Sears Mall branch in Anchorage because of her pregnancy. EEOC v. Zale Corporation, 3:07-cv-00033-JWS (D.Alaska). Before any motion practice, the parties settled the matter. Judge Sedwick approved the Consent Decree and Notice to Employees on July 9, 2007. The Consent Decree […]
The Second Circuit has now unambiguously held that
mandatory arbitration clauses in collective bargaining agreements are unenforceable to the extent they waive the rights of covered workers to a judicial forum for federal statutory causes of action.
Pyett v. Pennsylvania Building Company, ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 2189126 (2nd Cir. Aug. 1, 2007). The Court emphasized that Wright v. […]
The Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense is applicable only if the plaintiff seeks to hold the defendant liable for harassment on a vicarious liability theory and the plaintiff did not suffer a tangible employment action. If you have proof that the employer knew or should have known about the harasser’s conduct before this particular plaintiff was harassed, […]
This Tuesday afternoon, the U. S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2831, the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007, by a vote of 225-199. Among the two Republicans voting for the bill was Rep. Don Young (R-AK). The companion bill in the Senate, S. 1843, was introduced July 20th.
Pres. Bush has recently (July 27th) threatened […]
The U. S. Supreme Court’s opinion last Thursday in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District, 2007 WL 1836531 (June 28, 2007), may substantially limit employer diversity programs. According to an analysis by Eric Dreiband in SCOTUSblog,
After Thursday’s decision, it seems clear that in the absence of a “manifest imbalance,” an employer will […]
George Miller (D-Cal) has introduced HR 2831, which would amend Title VII, the ADEA, the ADA, and the 1973 Rehabilitation Act to specify that unequal pay claims accrue with each paycheck. If enacted, the bill would be retroactive to May 28, 2007, the day before the Supreme Court issued Ledbetter v. Goodyear.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) Chair, Naomi C. Earp, who was appointed by President Bush and assumed the role of Chair in 2006, was in Anchorage on June 18, 2007, and spoke about two EEOC Initiatives: E-RACE and Youth@Work.
According to the EEOC website, the “E-RACE” Initiative [“Eradicating Racism and Colorism in Employment”] is “an […]
“This is not the first time the Court has ordered a cramped interpretation of Title VII, incompatible with the statute’s broad remedial purpose… Once again, the ball is in Congress’ court. As in 1991, the Legislature may act to correct this Court’s parsimonious reading of Title VII.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg read these words on May […]
The Supreme Court granted cert today on this issue:
Whether the Second Circuit erred in concluding, contrary to the law of several other circuits and implicating an issue this Court has examined but not yet decided, that an ‘intake questionnaire’ submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (’EEOC’) may suffice for the charge of discrimination that […]
The U S Supreme Court today issued its opinion in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc. , 2007 WL 1528298 (May 29, 2007). Ledbetter claimed that Goodyear had discriminatorily denied her pay raises. Goodyear defended against Ledbetter’s Title VII claim, in part, on the timeliness of Ledbetter’s EEOC charge. Ledbetter won before the jury, but […]
On Wednesday, May 23rd, the EEOC issued a
Guidance on discrimination against caregivers under Title VII, the ADA, and the FMLA. The agency summarizes:
Although the federal EEO laws do not prohibit discrimination against caregivers per se, there are circumstances in which discrimination against caregivers might constitute unlawful disparate treatment. The purpose of this document is to assist […]
The 4th Circuit has held that the part of ANCSA that exempts Alaska Native corporations from Title VII claims (43 USC 1626(g)) does not protect ANCSA corporations from Section 1981 claims. Aleman v. Chugach Support Services, Inc., No. 06-1461 (4th Cir. May 3, 2007). The Court thus permitted the plaintiffs to pursue Section 1981 claims […]
