News & Analysis as of September 21, 2024

Title VII › Cat's Paw

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Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is a United States federal law enacted in 1964 and aimed at preventing discrimination in the workplace on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, and religion. Title VII has been subsequently extended to discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and sexual stereotypes and to prohibit sexual harassment. Title VII applies to all employers with fifteen or more employees including private employers, state and local governments, and educational institutions. less -

Negligent Employers May Be Held Liable For a Non-Supervisory Employee’s Discriminatory Actions Under “Cat’s Paw” Theory Says...

Mintz - Employment Viewpoints on 1/3/2017

The Second Circuit recently adopted the “Cat’s Paw” theory of liability in Title VII cases. This was hardly a surprise as other Circuit Courts had done the same after the United States Supreme Court endorsed Cat’s Paw in a...more

Second Circuit “Purrs” On Cat’s Paw Liability Case

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/6/2016

Seyfarth Synopsis: Recently, the Second Circuit held that the “cat’s paw” theory of liability may be used to support recovery for claims of retaliation where an employer negligently relies on information provided by a...more

Cat’s Paw Making New Tracks: Second Circuit Extends Cat’s Paw Principle to Retaliation Claims and to Low-Level Employees

Orrick - Employment Law and Litigation on 9/23/2016

The “cat’s paw” doctrine, a concept first coined by Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner in 1990 and adopted by the Supreme Court in 2011, applies when an employee is subjected to an adverse employment action by a decision...more

Employers Beware of the Cat's Paw

Baker Donelson on 9/14/2016

The cat scratches again! Five years ago, the United States Supreme Court handed down Staub v. Proctor Hospital, wherein it held that an employer may be liable for a supervisor's discriminatory animus when the independent...more

Second Circuit Adopts “Cat’s Paw” Theory of Imputing Nonsupervisory Employee’s Retaliatory Intent to Employer

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 9/13/2016

In Vasquez v. Empress Ambulance Service, Inc., No. 15-3239-cv (August 29, 2016), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals set new precedent when it held that an employer may be held liable for the retaliatory intent of a...more

The Monkey and the Cat: Second Circuit Adopts “Cat’s Paw” Theory of Liability for the Acts of a Non-Supervisory Employee in Title...

Genova Burns LLC on 9/6/2016

On August 29, 2016, a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit revived a retaliation lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 under the “cat’s paw” theory of liability. In...more

Second Circuit Holds That Non-Supervisory Employee’s Retaliatory Intent May Be Imputed to an Employer Under Title VII

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace on 8/31/2016

In Vasquez v. Empress Ambulance Service, Inc., the Second Circuit adopted the “cat’s paw” theory of liability under Title VII and held that the retaliatory intent of a low-level, non-supervisory employee may be imputed to an...more

Cat’s Paw Theory Of Discrimination Adopted By 2nd Circuit - False Sexting Claims Prove Employer’s Downfall

Fisher Phillips on 8/31/2016

The federal appeals court in New York just adopted a broad standard for employer liability as a consequence of discriminatory acts by their employees. This standard opens the door to a significant increase in claims being...more

Curing Cat’s-Paw

Sherman & Howard L.L.C. on 9/29/2015

In a Title VII retaliation claim, a plaintiff has to prove protected conduct was the “but-for” cause of the materially adverse action. Can a plaintiff prove “but-for” causation relying on the supposed retaliatory animus of...more

Can Employers in the Fifth Circuit Be Liable for Retaliation Under Title VII When the Decision Maker Had No Retaliatory Motive?

BakerHostetler on 9/16/2015

In Zamora v. City of Houston, 14-20125 (Aug. 19, 2015), the Fifth Circuit joined the Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth Circuits in holding that the “cat’s paw” theory of causation can also be utilized in Title VII retaliation cases,...more

Third Circuit Issues Employer-Friendly Ruling in Discrimination and Retaliation Case

Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP on 8/21/2015

On August 12, 2015, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued a precedential opinion in Jones v. SEPTA, a discrimination and retaliation claim brought by a former employee of the Philadelphia-area transit agency. The Third...more

The Supreme Court Narrows The Definition Of “Supervisor” – The Cat’s Meow For Corporations

Gray Reed on 7/31/2013

Ellen Tabby, an African-American, has worked for Binge and Purr, a cat food manufacturing company, for several years....more

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Title VII › Cat's Paw

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