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Given Equal Weight Under The Law: Expanding Title Vii Protections To Prohibit Weight Discrimination, Chelsea L. Yedinak

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Approximately half of Americans have an overweight or obese body mass index (BMI), yet weight discrimination is legal in nearly every jurisdiction. This means employers can set BMI limits, maximum weights, waist sizes, and more with no legal consequences. This Note examines the history of anti-fat bias and weight discrimination and how that motivates weight discrimination in employment and in the law generally. It then discusses possible solutions. Currently, most scholars propose prohibiting weight discrimination on a state level through legislation similar to Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act or on a federal level by recognizing obesity as a disability protected …

Working On The Other Side Of The Fence: Relief For Incarcerated Individuals After Employment Discrimination, Hannah C. Merrill

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

One of America’s largest workforces, comprised of 1.5 million incarcerated workers, remains unprotected by employment discrimination statutes and vulnerable to abuse from a system designed to exploit their labor. This Note highlights the effects of the lack of protection against employment discrimination for incarcerated workers. This Note will analyze the circuit split regarding the application of employment discrimination statutes to prisoners based on varying understandings of the term “employee” and explain why both approaches fail incarcerated workers. Although one approach bars suit from incarcerated employees altogether, the other only allows suit when the incarcerated individual is working in an “optional” …

Disaggregated Discrimination And The Rise Of Identity Politics, George Rutherglen

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Employment Discrimination Against Bisexuals: An Empirical Study, Ann E. Tweedy, Karen Yescavage

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Extending The Vision: An Empowerment Identity Approach To Work-Family Regulation As Applied To School Involvement Leave Statuses, Kirsten K. Davis

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Using school involvement leave legislation as the focus for analysis, this article proposes the “empowerment identity” approach to work-family legislation as an alternative or complement to the commonly used accommodation and antidiscrimination approaches. In many households, working parents struggle to meet routine demands of parenting, such as caring for a sick child or attending a child’s school activity. Interestingly, one of the most common forms of state-level legislation designed to address the routine demands of parenting is school involvement leave legislation. Although state school involvement leave statutes vary widely in how and for what reasons they permit time away from …

Lilly Ledbetter, Take Two: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Of 2009 And The Discovery Rule's Place In The Pay Discrimination Puzzle, Nancy Zisk

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Transforming Transsexual And Transgender Rights, L. Camille Hebert

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

State and federal employment anti-discrimination statutes have failed to adequately protect transsexual and transgendered individuals in the workplace. Although advancements have been made in recent years regarding the protection of sexual minorities, transsexual and transgendered employees continue to receive sporadic and noncomprehensive protection. Various approaches have been taken to extend protection against discrimination to these individuals, including the utilization of disability protection statutes, the expansion of anti-discrimination statutes, and the protection of transsexual and transgendered individuals as a class; however, these approaches have proven flawed in providing adequate protection.

An examination of anti-discrimination law shows that these measures, while perhaps …

On Lilly Ledbetter's Liberty: Why Equal Pay For Equal Work Remains An Elusive Reality, Katie Putnam

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Petruska V. Gannon University: A Crack In The Stained Glass Ceiling, Sarah Fulton

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

An examination of the protections afforded to religious institutions in their hiring decisions. Both § 702 of the Civil Rights Act and the judicially created ministerial exception allow churches to use criteria that other employers are not permitted to use under the law when making hiring decisions. Beginning with McClure v. Salvation Army, courts have slowly expanded the scope of these protections, leading up to the recent case of Petruska v. Gannon University. Petruska provides an example of the extent to which a broad reading of § 702 and the ministerial exception can harm religious workers. The opinion of Judge …

En/Gendering Equality: Seeking Relief Under Title Vii Against Employment Discrimination Based On Sexual Orientation, Anthony E. Varona, Jeffrey Monks

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.