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Race Discrimination First Amendment

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Fearless Fund Settles: Settlement Will Shape Law on Race-Based Grantmaking in Eleventh Circuit While Leaving Issue Unresolved...

Over the last year, we have monitored a lawsuit in Georgia that alleged a hedge fund (“Fearless Fund”) violated 42 U.S.C. § 1981—the federal prohibition on racial discrimination in contracting—by operating a grant contest...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Federal Court Permanently Blocks Florida Restrictions on Workplace Diversity Training

On July 26, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida permanently blocked Florida’s Stop WOKE Act, which restricted the types of anti-harassment and antidiscrimination training that employers can...more

Foster Swift Collins & Smith

Recommendations for DEI Programs in the Wake of Recent Federal Court Decision Findings on Diversity Initiatives

On June 3rd, 2024, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision, American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Fearless Fund Management Fund, LLC, et al, that impacts considerations for how diversity, equity and inclusion...more

Littler

11th Circuit Finds Race and Gender-Based Grant Program Likely Unlawful

Littler on

On June 3, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting a venture capital fund from awarding grants based on race and gender. In reversal of the district court, the...more

Baker Donelson

Court Blocks VC Firm from Issuing Grants to Black Women-Owned Businesses

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Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (the Court) held in Am. All. for Equal Rts. v. Fearless Fund Mgmt., LLC (Fearless Fund) that the Fearless Strivers Grant Contest (the Contest), a startup...more

Kaufman & Canoles

K&C Sports & Entertainment Law Weekly Roundup - June 2024 #3

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The U.S. Twirling Association and a coach must pay nearly $4.2 million to a baton twirler who was sexually assaulted as a minor during a sponsored international trip, a New York federal jury has found, saying the organization...more

Poyner Spruill LLP

Eleventh Circuit Decision Generates Further Concern in Diversity Initiatives

Poyner Spruill LLP on

On Monday, June 3, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a contest providing venture-capital funding to only Black women was substantially likely to violate section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

DEI Under Scrutiny, Part X: Eleventh Circuit Blocks Venture Capital Fund’s Grant Contest for Black Women-Owned Businesses

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit blocked a contest by a venture capital fund that provided grants and other benefits to black women-owned businesses, finding the contest is likely to unlawfully discriminate...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Fearless Fund Litigation Update – What Nonprofits and Other Private Actors Should Know

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

On June 3, 2024, a divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a decision in American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Fearless Fund Management, LLC, No. 23-13138 (11th Cir., June 3, 2024) (“Fearless Fund”)...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Fearless Fund Decision May Impact Race-Based Grantmaking

On June 3, 2024, a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that an Atlanta hedge fund likely violated 42 U.S.C. § 1981—the federal prohibition on racial discrimination in...more

Mintz

Eleventh Circuit Rules Corporate Grant Contest for Black Women Is Racially Discriminatory and Violates U.S. Constitution

Mintz on

On Monday, June 3, 2024, the Eleventh Circuit of Appeals held that the “Fearless Strivers Grant Contest, an entrepreneurship funding competition open only to businesses owned by black women” was “substantially unlikely to...more

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

Court halts black-only grants program

Chief Justice Roberts did say, "eliminating race discrimination means eliminating all of it." The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that a grant program -- which is available only to black females...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

Broadway Ruling Puts Discrimination Claims In The Limelight

Proskauer Rose LLP on

Does the First Amendment right to free speech permit an employer to hire or fire an employee based on race? On its face, the proposition may seem absurd, especially as we approach the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act...more

Proskauer - California Employment Law

Broadway Actor’s Race Discrimination Claims Sent Back to the Underworld in the Face of Producer’s First Amendment Rights

A federal court in New York has held that a Broadway musical’s casting decisions—specifically replacing one actor with another actor of a different race—are shielded by the First Amendment from employment discrimination...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

U.S. Courts of Appeals Block Two Legal Efforts to Curb DEI Initiatives

Based on First Amendment concerns, the Eleventh Circuit has blocked enforcement of provisions in Florida’s Stop WOKE Act that would restrict mandatory trainings endorsing DEI concepts. The Second Circuit has rejected a...more

Littler

Strike Two… Eleventh Circuit Upholds Injunction Against Florida “Stop-WOKE” Law; Confirms the Law Violates First Amendment

Littler on

Strike One… In 2021 Florida passed a unique law known as the Individual Freedom Act (IFA), or “Stop-WOKE” law (the state’s acronym for “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees”). The IFA contains two parts, one directed to...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

11th Circuit Puts to Sleep Florida Anti-Woke Law Prohibiting Certain Workplace Training

You may recall that in 2021 the State of Florida, in a much-publicized move, passed a law called the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” which banned Florida employers from mandating employee attendance to any training or instruction that...more

Kaufman & Canoles

K&C Sports & Entertainment Law Weekly Roundup - January 2024 #3

Kaufman & Canoles on

A swimmer who broke his ankle in a 2017 race organized by a Malibu beach club had his negligence lawsuit against the club owners restored, after a California state appeals court ruled that a retired lifeguard captain’s...more

Littler

Inching Forward Toward Potential Clarification of Florida’s Individual Freedom Act (the “Stop-W.O.K.E.” Law)

Littler on

On August 24, 2023, over a year after Florida’s Individual Freedom Act (IFA) (commonly referred to as the “Stop-W.O.K.E.” law) went into effect, and about one year after a Florida federal court partially enjoined the new law,...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Ban on Affirmative Action: Implications, Risks, and Strategies for the Charitable Sector

A pair of recent U.S. Supreme Court cases regarding college admissions standards has potentially wide-ranging implications for all nonprofit organizations that use race as a consideration in their programs. In Students for...more

Littler

“Stop-WOKE” Takes Aim at Florida’s Colleges and Universities

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Florida’s most recent anti-“WOKE” legislation places diversity-related work and diversity-focused positions on state campuses under threat. House Bill 999 (Postsecondary Educational Institutions), which was approved in a...more

FordHarrison

Federal Court Grants Preliminary Injunction to Halt Enforcement of Florida's Stop WOKE Act

FordHarrison on

On August 18, 2022, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida entered a preliminary injunction ordering state officials in Florida to take no steps to enforce HB7, or the “Stop WOKE Act,” while the...more

DirectEmployers Association

OFCCP Week In Review: August 2022 #4

The DE OFCCP Week in Review (WIR) is a simple, fast and direct summary of relevant happenings in the OFCCP regulatory environment, authored by experts John C. Fox, Candee Chambers and Cynthia L. Hackerott. In today’s edition,...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

Florida’s Stop Woke Law Is Sedated - Judge Blocks Law Limiting Workplace Bias Trainings

​​​​​​​On August 18, 2022, U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker issued a preliminary injunction blocking part of Florida’s House Bill (H.B.) 7, known as the Individual Freedom Act (IFA), which prohibits employers from requiring...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Florida “Stop WOKE Act” Enacted to Restrict DEI Initiatives by Employers, Associations, and Certification Organizations

The new Florida expansion of the Florida Civil Rights Act faces an immediate legal challenge. The controversial Stop WOKE Act amends the Florida Civil Rights Act to define certain mandatory DEI programs as prohibited racial...more

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