In a significant case involving an employer’s obligation to transfer a disabled employee, who cannot perform the essential functions of the employee’s current position, to an open, vacant position, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employer’s policy of hiring the most qualified candidate to fill vacant positions need not be ignored by
The results of three pending cases could greatly increase the amount of employment-related litigation Texas employers may face in 2023 and beyond. In Groff v. DeJoy, Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering what the lengths to which an employer must go to accommodate an employee’s sincerely
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the future viability of affirmative action plans in the academic sphere and could make significant changes to the legality of race-based admissions policies in colleges and universities. Like academia, over the last twenty years, many companies have adopted diversity and affirmative action programs (even where not required by
Want to evaluate whether you need to improve your company’s sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies or get recommendations for potential improvements to those policies? A company can spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to engage a large law firm to study the company’s policies and make recommendations for improvement. Alternatively, a company
In a recent case out of a federal court in Houston, a former African American sales representative for FedEx received a jury verdict in the amount of $366M. In that case, Jennifer Harris claimed that she opposed racial discrimination and that she was retaliated against and terminated for engaging in her protected activity. She brought
Effective September 1, 2021, a pair of bills passed by the Texas Legislature will expand the scope of employer liability for claims of sexual harassment. The bill makes four important amendments to the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (“Act”).
First the amendment defines what constitutes sexual harassment under state law. Sexual harassment means an
In Wittmer v. Phillips 66 Company, the Fifth Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s summary judgment in favor of Phillips 66 on a claim of employment discrimination based on transgender status. While affirming the judgment for the employer, the Court wrote to reject the district court’s summary conclusion that Title VII prohibited employment
One of the consequences of the Americans with Disabilities Amendment Act’s expanded definition of disability is that employers are facing a much larger number of accommodation requests and therefore a greater number of potential accommodations. Anecdotally, I have seen a sharp uptick in the number of employees asking employers to bring animals to the workplace
Yesterday, the EEOC published its four-year Strategic Enforcement Plan for fiscal years 2017 through 2021. The Plan is the Commission’s list of areas of priority where it intends to focus its resources in the next four years. The purpose of the Plan is to identify those areas the Commission believes are likely to have a
Plaintiffs and employers often dispute when an employee’s time period for filing a charge of discrimination commences. Plaintiffs argue that it commences on the date the adverse action is effective (e.g., the termination date) where employers often argue that it commences earlier when the employee is advised of the decision (i.e., notice of termination that