The U.S. Supreme Court has just heard the arguments of three cases that will determine the applications of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to LGBTQ employment rights. But Aaron Belkin, director of the judicial advocacy group, Take Back the Court has written Justices Brett Kavanaugh and…
Tag: Title VII
Zarda v. Altitude Express: Supreme Court to Hear First of Three Cases Regarding LGBTQ Discrimination
In 2010, New York skydiving instructor Donald Zarda was fired from his job, claiming it was because he told a customer he was gay. He died in 2014 in an accident, but Zarda’s sister, Melissa Zarda, and former partner Bill Moore are continuing to fight against the discrimination he allegedly…
UCLA Analysis Finds Transgender People who Experience Discrimination are More Likely to Attempt Suicide
A new University of Los Angeles (UCLA) analysis of data from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found discrimination leads transgender individuals to contemplate and attempt suicide at high rates. The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey by the National Center of Transgender Equality included responses from 27,715 transgender people from all 50…
Proposed Labor Department Rule Would Grant Federal Contractor Employers Religious Exemption from Discrimination Claims
A proposed rule under President Trump’s Department of Labor would give certain federal contractors the right to discriminate against people based on religious views. The proposal caused an uproar after the Labor Department announced it earlier this month, mainly because the implications of the rule would likely disproportionately affect LGBTQ…
DOJ Files Brief Asking the Supreme Court to Rule Against Protecting Transgender Individuals from Workplace Discrimination Under Title VII
The Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Trump is urging the Supreme Court to rule against workplace discrimination protections for transgender people. The DOJ submitted a brief to the Supreme Court on Aug. 16 asking the justices rule that Title VII, which protects employees from discrimination on the basis of…
Washington State Supreme Court Determines Obesity Discrimination Unlawful
The Washington State Supreme Court has declared it illegal to not offer an employee a job because of their weight. The court ruled the state’s definition of disability applies to obesity. Federal laws do not explicitly protect against discrimination based on obesity. Under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights…
Family Responsibilities Discrimination Cases Against Employers are Rising, Plaintiffs are Winning
More people than ever before are filing — and winning — family responsibilities discrimination lawsuits against their employers. The number of family responsibilities discrimination suits has risen by 269 percent between 2005 and 2015, according to a 2016 report by the Center for WorkLife Law. The idea of one spouse…
Trump’s ‘Go Back’ Tweets Against Congresswomen of Color Would Be Considered Workplace Discrimination
If the United States government were a company and President Trump an employer, his tweet in which he told four congresswomen of color to “go back” to their home countries would constitute as workplace discrimination. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) were…
American Medical Association Supports Transgender Rights in Supreme Court Filing
The American Medical Association (AMA) and other mental and health care organizations are supporting transgender individuals in demanding specific laws against workplace discrimination. A joint amicus brief the American Medical Association Litigation Center filed alongside 13 other organizations asked the United States Supreme Court to recognize the workplace discrimination transgender…
Gay Workers Not Protected from Discrimination, Justice Department Says
On the same day President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced that transgender people will not be allowed to serve in any capacity in the United States military, the Department of Justice delivered a setback of its own to gay workers. Sexual orientation is not a basis to protect someone from discrimination…