Sexual Orientation

A heterosexual employee sued for sexual-orientation discrimination. Really?!?

April 24, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/photos/question-question-mark-survey-2736480/)

Oh, did I mention that the plaintiff was the HR Manager?

Bruh…

Why was there an employment law trending on Twitter yesterday? Oh, I think I know.

April 23, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/pride-gay-nyc-new-york-city-flag-2444813/

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the prohibition against sex discrimination in Title VII also covers discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In other words, are there LGBT legal rights in the workplace? Continue reading

With more co-sponsors than ever and huge corporate support, will Congress finally vote to ban LGBT discrimination?

March 14, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/pride-gay-nyc-new-york-city-flag-2444813/

There is a sure-fire way to avoid the uncertainty of when and how the Supreme Court may — legal jargon in 3…2…1… — adjudicate LGBT rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

And that’s to pass a law making LGBT discrimination at work unlawful.

Speaking of which… Continue reading

Lower court reminds us that LGBT rights remain limited in the Third Circuit, well, except…

February 7, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/pride-gay-nyc-new-york-city-flag-2444813/

A few weeks ago, a Pennsylvania federal judge reluctantly ruled in this case that discrimination based on sexual orientation is not unlawful (or you, could say, permissible) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Continue reading

Justice Kavanaugh’s first SCOTUS opinion may speak volumes on how he’ll decide the next big employment case

January 9, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh delivered the opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court in a case called Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc. Although the Court’s decision has nothing to do with employment law — it’s a case about antitrust issues and arbitration — there’s a little something from Justice Kavanaugh’s that may be more than a little something.

At least as it relates to a big employment case that could be coming down Supreme Court Boulevard in 2019. Continue reading

Three wins for readers of The Employer Handbook

October 23, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Flickr.com (https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/27388069805) //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

And it’s only Tuesday! Continue reading

16 states have asked the Supreme Court to limit LGBT rights at work. Which 16, you ask?

August 27, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Nederlands Instituut voor de Classificatie voor Audiovisueel Materiaal (NICAM) (http://www.kijkwijzer.nl/upload/download_pc/7.pdf) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By the time you read this, I should be blissfully cruising in the Atlantic outside the range of any cell towers. However, between now (Saturday afternoon) and Monday, I am feverishly punching out 5 blog posts to hold you over until after Labor Day.

Will I sacrifice quality for quantity? ~~Since you’re not paying me anything to blog, you bet I will.~~ Hopefully, you won’t see it that way. But, if feel otherwise, ~~go jump in a lake~~ I’m sorry. Continue reading

Every state in the Third Circuit now recognizes LGBT rights at work. Third Circuit not so much for now.

August 22, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Public Domain, Link

It’s right there in the statute.

Under New Jersey and Delaware state law, you can’t discriminate against an employee based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.

Now, you won’t find the words “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” anywhere in the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. But, starting this month, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is treating both “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as protected classes.

“Speak, English, Eric!”

LGBT discrimination is against the law in all three states in the tri-state area — at least according to the state agencies that administer each law. Continue reading

Uncertainty in a major transgender-bias SCOTUS case, and an EEOC Commissioner speaks her mind on LGBT rights and religious liberty.

August 2, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pexels.com (https://www.pexels.com/photo/alone-bed-bedroom-blur-271897/)

Usually, after my kids go to bed is when I write my blog posts for the following day. Last night that didn’t happen. Instead, while putting my two boys to bed, I fell asleep on the spare bed in their room. #Parenting

So, I apologize for the tardy post today. Continue reading

RIP Ann Hopkins

July 20, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/40th/panel/hopkins.html, Public Domain, Link

Yesterday’s blog post highlighted the blistering dissent of Eleventh Circuit judge Hon. Robin S. Rosenbaum, as she criticized her colleagues for passing on the opportunity to reconsider whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protected employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation. In Judge Rosenbaum’s opinion, Title VII does afford those protections based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. In that case, the Court concluded that sex stereotyping violates Title VII. (It follows that Title VII precludes discrimination based on sexual orientation because of the failure to conform to the gender-based stereotype of loving someone of the opposite sex. Continue reading