In a unanimous decision yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the universe of employees who might be protected from retaliation under Title VII and other federal 
employment laws.
A retaliation claim is based upon an employer’s adverse action taken in response to an employee’s “protected activity”. Typically, protected activity includes things such as making a complaint
A jury in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa recently returned a verdict in excess of $50,000 to a female plaintiff alleging sex discrimination based upon gender stereotypes. The plaintiff, who was a night auditor at a hotel, claimed she was terminated because she was more masculine than a typical female employee. She
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court kicked off its 2010-2011 term. There are at least three cases this term of interest to employment lawyers. The Delaware Employment Law Blog had three excellent postings (here, here, and here) analyzing the cases in some detail. All three cases address important questions concerning the scope
On February 9, 2010, U.S. District Judge Linda Reade ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (link courtesy of Ross Runkel) to pay Cedar Rapids based CRST Van Expedited $4.5 million in attorney’s fees and costs it incurred to defend itself against a meritless sexual harassment lawsuit.
The action started in 2005 when a CRST employee
On January 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a decision that is likely to expand the frontiers of sex discrimination litigation in this circuit (which covers Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota). In Lewis v. Heartland Inns of America, a female plaintiff who had masculine
This is the time of year for reflection–when we look back on what happened during the past year, 
and look ahead to the coming year. There are many commentaries and opinions on what was good and bad about 2009, but there is no doubt it was an eventful year for those of us in the labor and employment law
There is an interesting op-ed in today’s Des Moines Register concerning religious discrimination in the workplace. The author, Lake Lambert III, is a professor of Religion at Wartburg College in Waverly. He contends employees are subject to religious tyranny because Title VII does not give enough protection to employees’ ability to practice their religion at work.
The EEOC has revised its "Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law" poster. The poster was revised to reflect new federal employment laws, including the ADA Amendments, and the Genetic Non Discrimination in Employment Act ("GINA"). Employers can either obtain a new poster, or a supplement their existing poster. The new posting is mandatory effective November 21
EEOC statistics for the year ended September 30, 2008, the most recent data that is available, show that charges of retaliation increased by 23% compared to the prior year. In addition, more than 1/3 of the charges filed with the Agency allege retaliation as one of the claims. According to this article in The Wall
A recent decision from the Eighth Circuit provides good training material about what "not to do" if you want to your company to avoid being liable for discrimination, and possibly punitive damages.
The EEOC filed suit against Siouxland Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Associates, a medical clinic in Sioux Falls South Dakota. The complaint alleged that Siouxland terminated