Sex Discrimination

Can you Fire an Employee for Telling a Customer He is Gay?

the situation An employer terminates an employee after he talks openly about his sexual orientation with a customer.  Could this constitute discrimination under Title VII? the ruling The EEOC has taken the position that Title VII prohibits sexual orientation discrimination. But a number of federal appellate courts have disagreed.  Just yesterday, the Second Circuit ruled […]

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Federal Court Allows EEOC’s Sexual Orientation Discrimination Claim to Go Forward

the situation The EEOC has definitively targeted harassment and discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, taking the position that sexual orientation is covered by Title VII.  And back in March, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against an employer in Pennsylvania in one of the first lawsuits brought by the EEOC alleging sexual orientation […]

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Requiring Transgender Employee to Use Gender-Neutral Bathroom Found to Violate Title VII

the situation An employee informs you that he is transgender and is in the process of transitioning to a man.  Based on concerns about other employees’ reactions, you inform him that he can no longer use the female restrooms, but also cannot use the male restrooms. Instead, he must only use the single occupancy gender-neutral […]

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Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars and Agreement to Provide Future Training To Settle One of EEOC’s First Sexual Orientation Discrimination Lawsuits

the situation One of your supervisors regularly makes jokes about the sexual orientation of one of your female employees—along the lines of how he would like to turn her back into a woman and how she would look good in more feminine attire.  She complains about the supervisor’s comments.  If she is subsequently fired, could […]

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Does Harassment Based on Sexual Orientation Count as Sex Discrimination?

the situation One of your supervisors has been making offensive comments to a gay employee about his sexual orientation fairly frequently.   The employee complains to you, but you don’t take it seriously and thus, don’t take any action.  The employee then quits.  Could you face a possible claim under Title VII?

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Transgender Employee Fired for Clear Policy Violation—Is Employer Still At Risk For Title VII Claim?

the situation An employee informs you that she is going through a gender transition and then a few months later you catch her sleeping on the clock. After you terminate her (just like you have terminated others who engaged in similar conduct), she claims that you discriminated against her based upon her sex in violation […]

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EEOC Rules– Sexual Orientation Discrimination Equals Sex Discrimination under Title VII

On July 15, 2015, the EEOC clarified that, at least for claims made against the federal government, all complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation constitute sex discrimination claims under Title VII. Baldwin v. Foxx, Secretary, Dept. of Transportation, EEOC Appeal No. 0120133080. The case involved David Baldwin, an air traffic controller who filed an […]

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Transgender former police officer states a claim under Title VII-but fails to show sufficient evidence of discrimination

Last week, the district court ruled that although discrimination based on transgender status was a cognizable claim under Title VII, the plaintiff had failed to demonstrate that the rejection of her application to be part of a volunteer mounted patrol was discriminatory. Finkle v. Howard County, Maryland, Case No. SAG-13-3236 (D. Md. June 12, 2015).

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Ninth Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment on Issue of Whether Policy Prohibiting Male Deputies from Supervising Female Inmates is Discrimination

In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit found that there were material issues of fact in dispute precluding summary judgment in favor of a county where male deputies claimed a policy prohibiting male deputies from supervising female inmates in the housing units of the jails operated by the County was unlawful sex discrimination in violation […]

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Summary Judgment Granted to Plaintiff Claiming FBI’s Gender-Based Push-up Requirements in Violation of Title VII

Is it discrimination for the FBI to require its male trainees to perform 30 push-ups while only requiring 14 push-ups from its female trainees in a physical fitness test? In June, a federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that it was. Bauer v. Holder, Case No. 1:13-cv-93 (E.D.Va. June 10, 2014). A […]

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