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Appeals Harassment Corporate Counsel

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Get with the Pronoun: Eleventh Circuit Rules Pervasive Misgendering Is Harassment

If an employer or coworker persistently uses a transgender worker’s wrong name or identified pronoun, can that constitute a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII? In Copeland v. Georgia Department of Corrections,...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Claims of Hostile Work Environment Happened Over Too Long a Period, Court Rules

Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims from a university professor that she had been subjected to a series of retaliatory acts in the two- and one-half year period following her filing an Equal...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Recognizes 'Equal Opportunity Harasser' Defense

We often hear claims from employees who threaten to sue their employer for creating a “hostile work environment.” When we dig into the complaints, often the employee is alleging that their manager is mean or unfair to them,...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Says Racial Slur From Owner's Six-Year-Old Son is Evidence of Offensive Working Environment

​​​​​​​Over the past decade, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) has substantially lowered the bar for demonstrating racial harassment in cases where a racial...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Allows New Type of Same-Sex Harassment Claim Based on Stereotyping

In its Oncale decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex sexual harassment violates Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibition. In that case, the court said that plaintiffs can demonstrate same-sex harassment...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Seventh Circuit Says One Use of "N-Word" Insufficient for Racial Harassment Claim

In recent years, a number of federal appellant courts, including the Fourth Circuit, have issued opinions finding that a single use of a racial slur can be enough to constitute a hostile and offensive working environment...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Seventh Circuit Says ‘Hellish' Work Environment Is Not Necessary to Prove Title VII Harassment

Over the past decade, federal courts have gradually reduced the evidentiary burden necessary for a plaintiff to reach a jury trial on claims involving sexual or racial harassment. The relevant legal standard calls for the...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Same-Sex Harassment of Male Employee in Mixed-Gender Workplace Violated Title VII

In its 1998 Oncale decision, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex sexual harassment can violate Title VII’s gender discrimination prohibitions. However, the court noted that in order to demonstrate violation of the...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Even Rhetorical Use of the "N-Word" Sufficient to Allow Racial Harassment Claim to Go to Jury

Over the past several years, we have reported an increasing number of federal appeals court decisions that have characterized even single instances of certain racial slurs as sufficient to constitute hostile environment...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Rejects Sexual Harassment Claim by Employee Who Quit Days Into Her Investigation

Employers are not strictly liable for hostile environment sexual harassment by a victim’s co-workers. The employer may be held responsible under Title VII if it knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Failure to Investigate and Fat-Shaming Permit Employment Claims to Proceed

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: Under California law, obesity can qualify as a disability if it has a physiological cause and limits a major life activity. Proving such a claim has been difficult. The First District Court of Appeal’s...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Workers’ Compensation Ruling Given Preclusive Effect In Discrimination Lawsuit

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Seyfarth Synopsis: In Ly v. County of Fresno, the Court of Appeal held that correctional officers’ claims for race, ethnicity, and national origin discrimination were barred because the claims had been previously denied in...more

Maynard Nexsen

Good Faith Belief in Employee’s Wrongdoing Serves as Defense Against Retaliation Claim

Maynard Nexsen on

A recent Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling may offer employers in North and South Carolina another defense against an employee’s retaliation claim: No liability for adverse action against an employee based on the...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Fourth Circuit Says Failure to Replace Employee Does Not Defeat Discriminatory Termination Claim

When a terminated employee alleges that her firing resulted from discrimination or retaliation, employers often dispute those claims by noting that the employer never hired anyone to take the terminated employee’s position....more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Conciliation Made Easy? The Ninth Circuit Reinstates EEOC Pattern Or Practice Action In Light Of Mach Mining

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In Arizona Ex Rel. Horne v. The Geo Group, No. 13-16081 (9th Cir. Mar. 14, 2016), the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit vacated the district court’s summary judgment orders and reinstated a pattern or practice action...more

Mintz - Employment, Labor & Benefits...

Federal Court Says Employer Can Be Liable for Acts of Anonymous Harasser

As a major national company learned recently, employers cannot shirk their obligations to investigate employee complaints of a hostile work environment simply because the identity of the harasser is unknown. Failure to...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Fifth Circuit Fires at the Department of Labor with Colorful, Precedential Prose

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently slammed the United States Department of Labor with a finding of abusive conduct and ordered an award of significant monetary sanctions for bad faith, harassment, and abusive...more

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