Blog Topic

Daily Developments in EEO Law

A running commentary (since 2004) on the follies and fortunes of employment discrimination law in the federal courts of appeal - with occasional detours, at the author's discretion.

Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Gentry, No. 07-998 (U.S. Mar. 31, 2008, cert. denied)
March 31, 2008

This is probably going to make a lot of management lawyers choke up, but the Supreme Court has taken a pass on one of their pet issues.

Davis v. Team Electric, Inc., No. 05-35877 (9th Cir. Mar. 28, 2008)
March 29, 2008

Here's a case that harkens back to the bad-old-days of the 1970s -- a pioneering woman in the trades, suffering harassment and sabotage on the job.

Abdullahi v. Prada USA, No. 07-2489 (7th Cir. Mar. 21, 2008); Rweyemamu v. Cote, No. 06-1041 (2d Cir. Mar. 21, 2008)
March 22, 2008

Judge Posner acquaints a district court judge with twenty-year-old, controlling Supreme Court precedent. Meanwhile, the Second Circuit declares Title VII unconstitutional.

Attachments:
ABDULLAHI.pdf

Arendale v. City of Memphis, No. 07-5230 (6th Cir. Mar. 20, 2008)
March 21, 2008

Since the 1991 Civil Rights Act, courts have wrestled with the problem of whether the amended section 1981(c) -- which provides that "[t]he rights protected by this section are protected against impairment by nongovernmental discrimination and impairment under color of State law" -- was meant to abrogate Jett v. Dallas Independent School District, 491 U.S. 701 (1989), and furnish a cause of action against government employers.

Rioux v. City of Atlanta, Georgia, No. 07-11657 (11th Cir. Mar. 18, 2008)
March 19, 2008

This case belies the common notion that Title VII disparate treatment and section 1983 race discrimination claims are just two sides of the same coin. At least where the employee sues individual defendants and the case involves mixed-motives, the issue of qualified immunity can derail even a meritorious case.

Perez v. Sanford-Orlando Kennel, No. 06-15931 (11th Cir. Mar. 10, 2008)
March 19, 2008

There are some things that a lawyer should never do for a client.

Warren v. UPS Inc., No. 07-2197 (1st Cir. Mar. 6, 2008)
March 19, 2008

Courts applying the ADA cede wide discretion to employers in the field of vehicular safety. But the First Circuit last week found a different answer under the Maine Human Rights Act, affirming a jury verdict for a trucker shoved out of his job because of an epilepsy diagnosis.

Jackson v. Federal Express Corp., No. 06-5844 (6th Cir. Mar. 6, 2008)
March 19, 2008

This case demonstrates how, for some judges, the McDonald Douglas test really does become "rigid, mechanized, or ritualistic" (Furnco Constr. Corp. v. Waters, 438 U.S. 567, 577 (1978)).

Correa v. White, No. 07-3785 (7th Cir. Mar. 4, 2008)
March 18, 2008

How lame is it when the only published federal appellate EEO decision all day spanks a pro se litigant for failing to include proper record and case cites in her brief?

Attachments:
Correa.pdf

King v. Hardesty, No. 06-4163 (8th Cir. Feb. 29, 2008)
March 18, 2008

Direct-evidence race discrimination case under ? 1983

McClain vs. Lufkin Indust Inc., No. 05-41417 (5th Cir. Feb. 29, 2008)
March 18, 2008

A daring Title VII class action success