Vaccine Exemption Policy Requiring Citation to Official Doctrine Violates First Amendment Madison Houghton and Nathan A. Adams IV In Does 1-11 v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. of Colorado, 100 F. 4th 1251 (10th Cir. 2024), former...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: As reported here, for the two-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings regarding Article III standing in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez (“TransUnion”), the Workplace Class Action blog is providing a...more
Supreme Court Decides Freedom of Speech Trumps Public Accommodations Law In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, No. 21-476 (June 30, 2023), the U.S. Supreme Court reversed 6-3 the lower courts' denial of the injunction the plaintiff...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently ruled that prohibitions against discriminatory employment practices against the LGTBQ+ community under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are inapplicable to...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Fifth Circuit endorsed for-profit employers integrating their religious beliefs into their employment policies to apply the...more
In Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that religious employers may be exempt from Title VII requirements concerning sexual...more
A federal court of appeals ruled last week that religious businesses may be partially exempt from Title VII — a statute that prohibits workplace discrimination because of sexual orientation, gender identity, and other...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton County decision recognized discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity as forms of sex discrimination, essentially incorporating such claims into Title...more
Donors State Claims for Misuse of Their Funds, But Not as a Class Action - In Carrier v. Ravi Zacharias Int'l Ministries, Inc. No. 1:21-CV-3161-TWT, 2022 WL 1540206 (N.D. Ga. May 13, 2022) and Carrier v. Ravi Zacharias...more
In a historic move, both chambers of Congress have approved legislation protecting the right of same-sex couples to get married, and President Biden is expected to quickly sign the bill into law. The U.S. House of...more
Religious Exemption to States' Mandatory Vaccination Statute Not Necessary In Does 1-6 v. Mills, No. 1:21-cv-00242, 2021 WL 4783626 (D. Me. Oct. 13, 2021), the court denied injunctive relief to plaintiff healthcare workers...more
In one of the more notorious challenges to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, a group of Navy Special Warfare servicemembers filed suit after the Navy denied their requests for religious accommodations. Last week, a federal court...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: As 2022 begins, we are pleased to present our annual selections for the five most intriguing developments in EEOC litigation during 2021, as well as our annual report on developments and trends in...more
OFCCP has announced a proposal to rescind the Trump-era final rule “Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption”. As described in the Proposal:...more
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 Jennifer Polcer. In today’s edition, they...more
Morals Clause Ruled Not Within Title VII Religious Exemptions Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it unlawful "to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any...more
EEOC takes a stand on bathrooms and gender identity. Well, not the whole Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Just the chair, Charlotte Burrows (D), who has issued non-binding guidance on sexual orientation and gender...more
Last summer, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, which held that the protected classification of “sex” under Title VII included sexual orientation and gender identity....more
On January 8, 2021, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces Executive Order 11246, published an opinion letter clarifying workplace religious liberty protections for employees whose religious views...more
This week, the EEOC approved employers requiring employees to receive COVID-19 vaccination, subject to limitations. How limiting are the limitations? Case law applying them is thin, but generally treats them as narrow. In...more
In Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y. v. Cuomo, No. 20A87, 2020 WL 6948354 (U.S. Nov. 25, 2020) (per curiam), the U.S. Supreme Court enjoined enforcement of the 10- and 25-person occupancy limits on churches in New York...more
On November 9, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) voted 3-2 to release a proposed update to Section 12 of the EEOC Compliance Manual addressing religious discrimination. Section 12 of the...more
Third in a Series of Blogs Regarding the Presidential Transition - In a recent interview with the Philadelphia Gay News, Joe Biden vowed to make enactment of the Equality Act a legislative priority within his first 100...more
Over the past 10 years, there have been several significant changes related to how federal courts handle alleged religious discrimination. Catching up to those changes, this week the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...more
A few weeks ago, we told you the story of Hannah and Bob, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark holding that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being gay,...more