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On April 17, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court in Muldrow v. St. Louis held that an employee who claimed she was involuntarily transferred to another position because of her sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) needed only to show that the transfer caused “some harm respecting an identifiable term or condition of employment”

On February 8, 2024, in its Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a whistleblower pursuing a claim for retaliation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) does not need to show that the employer acted with “retaliatory intent.”

Addressing what it deemed an “interpretive incongruity,” on August 18, 2023, the Fifth Circuit shifted nearly 30 years of Title VII disparate treatment precedent in Hamilton et al. v. Dallas County.

As many employers are likely aware, Title VII makes it illegal for covered employers to discriminate against employees and applicants based on certain protected characteristics, including sincerely held religious beliefs.

On October 25, 2022, a federal jury in Houston awarded a woman $365,000,000 in punitive damages and over $1,000,000 in compensatory damages, after finding that her employer had terminated her in retaliation for complaining about race discrimination.

Issues regarding pay equity have been front of mind for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) this year, as evidenced by the agency’s promise to “redoubl[e] its efforts” to ensure that government contractors are complying with the compensation evaluation portion of their affirmative action programming.

It may, once again, be time for employers to review and update their COVID-19 workplace safety policies.

In our April 28, 2022 post, we discussed New York City’s new salary transparency law that would require all New York City employers with more than four employees to state the minimum and maximum salaries whenever they “advertised” a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity.

Beginning on May 15, 2022, New York City employers with more than four employees must state the minimum and maximum salary whenever they “advertise” a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity.

President Biden is imminently expected to sign into law the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act” (the “Act”), which will have significant, immediate ramifications for employers who have entered into arbitration agreements with their employees.

As someone who has tried more than his share of cases, I have come to the conclusion that retaliation claims are often more difficult to defend than plain discrimination claims.