By Sam Schwartz-Fenwick, Michael W. Stevens, and Kylie Byron
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Department of Justice has reversed the previous Administration’s position on employment protections for transgender individuals, and issued a memorandum that will likely be relied on by private employers seeking to use their religious faith to engage in otherwise prohibited discriminatory conduct.
In a bombshell week,
Continue Reading The Ongoing Battle Between LGBTQ+ Rights And Claims Of Religious Liberty
By Sam Schwartz-Fenwick, Michael W. Stevens, and Kylie Byron
Seyfarth Synopsis: The first eight months of the new administration signals a retrenchment on the executive branch’s view of legal protections due LGBT individuals, including in employment.
Recently, in a dramatic shift, the Department of Justice broke ranks with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and filed an amicus
Continue Reading Management Alert – The Current Federal Retrenchment on LGBT Rights
By Sam Schwartz-Fenwick and Lucas Deloach
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. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc., Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman, informed her employer, a funeral home,
Continue Reading Despite New Administration, EEOC Maintains Position that Title VII Prohibits Gender Identity Discrimination
By Sam Schwartz-Fenwick and Lucas Deloach
Seyfarth Synopsis: Increasingly, courts have held that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity violates Title VII. Federal district courts in Nevada and Pennsylvania have recently joined their ranks. Nonetheless, the issue remains unsettled.
In the previous two months, federal courts in Nevada and Pennsylvania held that Title VII’s prohibition
Continue Reading Courts Say Title VII Forbids Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
By Sam Schwartz-Fenwick and Kylie Byron
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Seventh Circuit has ruled that Title VII does not provide protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. However, the reasoning behind the Court’s ruling seems calculated to bring the question before the Seventh Circuit on en banc review or before the Supreme Court itself.
In a defeat for proponents
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Holds That Title VII Does Not Cover Sexual Orientation
By Laura J. Maechtlen and Craig B. Simonsen
A transgender woman filed a complaint last week against a large healthcare employer alleging sex discrimination in violation of Title VII.
The complainant seeks, among other things, a permanent injunction against the employer from engaging in the “unlawful conduct of discriminating against employees who have undergone, or are undergoing, a gender transition.”
Continue Reading Implications for Employers In Navigating Transgender Employee Requests For Access To Employer Facilities
By Sam Schwartz-Fenwick and Chris Kelleher
Are Federal Courts ready to recognize that Title VII’s anti-discrimination prohibition extends to claims of sexual orientation?
This question will be decided when the Seventh Circuit issues a ruling in Kimberly Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College. Such a ruling may be imminent as this case is fully briefed, and oral argument has
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Asked To Recognize That Protections Of Title VII Cover Gays and Lesbians
By Laura J. Maechtlen and Craig B. Simonsen
Attorney General Holder announced this week that the U.S. Department of Justice will take the position in litigation that the protection of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends to claims of discrimination based on an individual’s gender identity, including transgender status.
In a memorandum released by the U.S.
Continue Reading DOJ Extends Protection To Employees Based On Gender Identity
By: Lawrence Z. Lorber, Laura J. Maechtlen, Cameron A. Smith and Annette Tyman
On December 9, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued the Final Rule implementing Executive Order (“EO”) 13672, which will require affirmative action and non-discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity for federal
Continue Reading DOL Issues Final Rule on Government Contractor Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Non-Discrimination and Affirmative Action Requirements
By Laura J. Maechtlen, Annette Tyman, and Craig B. Simonsen
More from the OFCCP on gender identity. This week, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued Directive 2014-02 (August 19, 2014) to clarify that discrimination on the basis of sex covers discrimination on the basis of gender identity and transgender status.
The Directive, entitled “Gender Identity
Continue Reading Federal Contractors Take Note: OFCCP Clarifies “Existing” Policy — Gender Identity and Transgender Discrimination Is Sex Discrimination