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
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
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
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
In what appears to be the first time a federal appeals court has extended the nation’s main federal employment discrimination statute to cover transgender and transitioning employees, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) just issued new rules which will limit the contraception coverage mandate covering employers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The new rules, released Friday, expand the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: To the surprise of many, the EEOC is not retreating from the argument first made by the Obama administration that Title VII forbids employment discrimination based on gender identity. In EEOC v. R.G....more
Certainly, the trend in employment law has been toward greater equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees. Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land due to the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer...more
Finding the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission failed to accommodate the religious beliefs of a funeral home’s owner who fired a transgender employee under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a federal district court...more
In Zubik v. Burwell, the justices vacated and remanded six federal appellate judgements on whether an accommodation (described below) for employers with religious objections to providing coverage for some or all contraception...more
In a recent Supreme Court case, Zubik v. Burwell, the justices vacated and remanded six federal appellate judgements on whether an accommodation (described below) for employers that object to providing contraceptive coverage...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently published its Final Rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among other grounds, sex in...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously remanded a consolidated appeal of seven cases addressing the contraceptive-coverage “accommodation” for religious organizations under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to the Courts of...more
The Supreme Court in a unanimous opinion remanded Zubick v. Burwell — and the six cases consolidated with Zubick — back to the Courts of Appeals to rule on the contraceptive opt-out notice provisions. The Court directed the...more
The Supreme Court declined to rule on whether religiously affiliated nonprofits can be required to affirmatively “opt out” of providing contraceptive coverage to their employees, which would have triggered separate...more
Regardless of one’s preferred metaphor, the Supreme Court of the United States is adept at ducking, punting, and otherwise avoiding messy and socially divisive interpretive issues. Every once in a while, the parties even help...more
Does filling out a form burden religious beliefs? We’re about to find out. On November 6, the Supreme Court agreed to review a group of seven cases (led by No. 14-1418, Zubik v. Burwell) brought by religious non-profit...more
On June 30, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. et al., that the Affordable Care Act's "contraceptive mandate", as applied to "closely held corporations", violates the Religious Freedom...more