In late January 2019, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”) does not allow outside job applicants to bring disparate impact claims. The plaintiff in the case, Dale Kleber, an attorney, is now asking the Supreme Court to review that decision.
Continue Reading Attorney Asks Supreme Court to Review Seventh Circuit’s Interpretation of Disparate Impact Claims Under the ADEA
In a unanimous 9-0 decision authored by Justice Ginsburg, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a split amongst the circuit courts of whether filing a charge of discrimination pursuant to Title VII is a jurisdictional prerequisite or a claims-processing rule.
Continue Reading SCOTUS Unanimously Holds That Charge Filing Requirement in Title VII is Procedural, Not Jurisdictional
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court slammed the door shut on class arbitration unless specifically authorized by the parties.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Holds That Agreements to Class Arbitration Must Be Explicit
After languishing on the docket for almost a year, the United States Supreme Court agreed today to hear three cases concerning the scope of Title VII’s protections for LGBT employees.
Continue Reading Supreme Court To Decide Whether Title VII Protects Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court punted a key Equal Pay Act case back to the Ninth Circuit because the decision’s author, Judge Stephen Reinhardt, passed away shortly before the decision was formally issued.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Vacates Deceased Judge’s Key EPA Decision
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to resolve a growing split of authority among lower federal circuit courts regarding the requirement under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that individuals must file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC before bringing Title VII claims against their employer.
Continue Reading Supreme Court To Review Administrative Exhaustion Requirements Under Title VII
In a rare win for plaintiffs seeking to avoid arbitration, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a trucking company’s attempt to compel arbitration in a driver’s proposed minimum wage class action. The Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act’s exemption for interstate transportation workers applies not only to employees, but also to those classified as independent contractors.
Continue Reading SCOTUS Rejects Employer’s Attempt to Compel Arbitration of Independent Contractor’s Class Claim
The Supreme Court once again has shown its strong preference for enforcing the terms of arbitration agreements as written by the parties. In Henry Schein Inc. v. Archer & White Sales Inc., Justice Kavanaugh’s first written opinion, the Court held that when an arbitration agreement delegates the threshold question of arbitrability to an arbitrator, the arbitrator, not a court, should decide the question, even if it is clear to a court that the dispute is not covered by the arbitration agreement.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Enforces Yet Another Arbitration Agreement
The U.S. Supreme Court held yesterday that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) applies to state and local government employers, regardless of their size. In doing so, the Court unanimously adopted the Ninth Circuit’s reading of the statute when four other Circuits held the opposing position.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Extends ADEA Coverage to Small State and Local Government Employers
The combination of a quirky procedural posture and broad language used by the Supreme Court in 1941 have left Home Depot trapped in a North Carolina state court defending against a class action, despite the removal provisions of the Class Action Fairness Act. On September 27, 2018, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether CAFA authorizes removal of class action counterclaims when its requirements are otherwise met.
Continue Reading Supreme Court to Address CAFA Removal of Counterclaims