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2010

Civil Rights and Discrimination

Title VII

Institution
Publication
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Articles 1 - 28 of 28

Full-Text Articles in Law

In Lieu Of Preclusion: Reconciling Administrative Decisionmaking And Federal Civil Rights Claims, Marjorie A. Silver Dec 2010

In Lieu Of Preclusion: Reconciling Administrative Decisionmaking And Federal Civil Rights Claims, Marjorie A. Silver

Marjorie A. Silver

No abstract provided.


Turning Title Vii's Protection Against Retaliation Into A Never-Fulfilled Promise, Jessica L. Beeler Oct 2010

Turning Title Vii's Protection Against Retaliation Into A Never-Fulfilled Promise, Jessica L. Beeler

Golden Gate University Law Review

Part I also explains the varied standards that were previously used when deciding what constitutes an adverse employer action and how the Supreme Court's recent decision in Burlington Northern resolved a split among the circuits. In Burlington Northern, the Supreme Court adopted a deterrence test to define adverse employer actions, which means the employer action must be harmful to the point that it would deter a reasonable employee of complaining of discrimination. Part II analyzes the actual effects of this decision, focusing in particular on DeHart. It shows how DeHart misapplied the deterrence standard by focusing on whether the employer …


Making-Up Conditions Of Employment: The Unequal Burdens Test As A Flawed Mode Of Analysis In Jespersen V. Harrah's Operating Co., Megan Kelly Oct 2010

Making-Up Conditions Of Employment: The Unequal Burdens Test As A Flawed Mode Of Analysis In Jespersen V. Harrah's Operating Co., Megan Kelly

Golden Gate University Law Review

Part I of this Note reviews Title VII and foundational caselaw, including cases regarding sex discrimination and appearance standards. Part II examines the Ninth Circuit's Jespersen opinion. Part III compares the Supreme Court decision in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, which expanded Title VII protection to include gender stereotyping, with the Jespersen holding. Part III also explores a Seventh Circuit case, Carroll v. Talman Federal Savings and Loan Association of Chicago, and Judge Thomas's dissent in Jespersen, which both argue for inclusion of less tangible factors such as gender stereotyping in the unequal burdens test. Part III finally contends that the …


Introduction: Dukes V. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Elizabeth Chamblee Burch Oct 2010

Introduction: Dukes V. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Scholarly Works

This short introduction to Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. aims to explain the case and to set the table for what promises to be thought-provoking roundtable discussion hosted by Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc. Accordingly, what follows is a concise overview of the legal background and current debate over the two procedural issues that the Ninth Circuit explored in detail – how to evaluate Rule 23(a)(2)’s commonality when common questions heavily implicate the case’s merits, and when a Rule 23(b)(2) class can include relief apart from injunctive or declaratory relief without endangering due process.


Expert Testimony And "Subtle Discrimination" In The Workplace: Do We Now Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows?, Deborah Dyson Sep 2010

Expert Testimony And "Subtle Discrimination" In The Workplace: Do We Now Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows?, Deborah Dyson

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Comment studies Elsayed in order to investigate these questions. The Background discussion traces the two great lines of cases whose trajectories cross in Elsayed, the Daubert v. Merrell Dow expert testimony jurisprudence under the Federal Rules of Evidence and the McDonnell Douglas v. Green line of cases establishing the "pretext" model of proof for individual employment discrimination claims under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Then, turning to the opinion proper, the Analysis considers Elsayed under the following headings: (A) The Crux: The Court's Harmless-Error Determination, (B) Decoding in the Pretext Context, (C) Substituting the Mixed-Motives Regime …


Fait Accompli?: Where The Supreme Court And Equal Pay Meet A Narrow Legislative Override Under The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Megan Coluccio Aug 2010

Fait Accompli?: Where The Supreme Court And Equal Pay Meet A Narrow Legislative Override Under The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Megan Coluccio

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act’s consequences will be minimally felt, so long as the Act is narrowly construed. The Comment suggests congressional action was appropriate after the Supreme Court’s Ledbetter decision and discusses the political and legislative debate leading to the Act. In addition, the Comment analyzes the Act in application, exploring its meaning, implications, and function. The Comment argues that the concerns and consequences arising from the enactment of the Act can be alleviated and avoided by a narrow interpretation of its amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Finally, the Comment recommends …


Sexual Harassment In The Workplace: A Practitioner's Guide To Tort Actions, Alice Montgomery Aug 2010

Sexual Harassment In The Workplace: A Practitioner's Guide To Tort Actions, Alice Montgomery

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.


Workplace Religious Discrimination, Rebecca Garnett, Joan M. Clay Jun 2010

Workplace Religious Discrimination, Rebecca Garnett, Joan M. Clay

Caesars Hospitality Research Summit

Legal cases of religious discrimination are on the rise, a 32.5% increase in claims between 1997 and 2007. Company dress codes are increasingly being challenged based on religious discrimination. This paper focuses on legal cases involving religious discrimination based on dress.


Discrimination Outside Of The Office: Where To Draw The Walls Of The Workplace For A "Hostile Work Environment" Claim Under Title Vii, Douglas R. Garmager Jun 2010

Discrimination Outside Of The Office: Where To Draw The Walls Of The Workplace For A "Hostile Work Environment" Claim Under Title Vii, Douglas R. Garmager

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it "an unlawful employment practice for an employer . . . to discriminate against any individual" on the basis of sex. Accordingly, in Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, the Supreme Court recognized that sex discrimination in employment can give rise to a hostile work environment claim under Title VII. The scope of a hostile work environment claim has not been interpreted uniformly by the lower courts, however, as a circuit split exists today over whether conduct occurring outside the workplace is relevant to a hostile work environment claim. …


Erasing Boundaries: Masculinities, Sexual Minorities, And Employment Discrimination, Ann C. Mcginley Apr 2010

Erasing Boundaries: Masculinities, Sexual Minorities, And Employment Discrimination, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

This Article analyzes the application of employment discrimination law to sexual minorities--lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex individuals. It evaluates Title VII and state anti-discrimination laws' treatment of these individuals, and is the first article to use masculinities research, theoretical and empirical, to explain employment discrimination against sexual minorities. While the Article concludes that new legislation would further the interests of sexual minorities, it posits that it is neither necessary nor sufficient to solving the employment discrimination problems of sexual minorities. A major problem lies in the courts' binary view of sex and gender, a view that identifies men and …


Another Hair Piece: Exploring New Strands Of Analysis Under Title Vii, Angela Onwuachi-Willig Apr 2010

Another Hair Piece: Exploring New Strands Of Analysis Under Title Vii, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay re-examines antidiscrimination case law that allows employers to enforce hair grooming policies that prohibit natural hairstyles for black women, such as braids, locks, and twists. In so doing, this Essay sets forth an intersectional, biological - as opposed to cultural - argument for why such bans are discriminatory under Title VII. Specifically, this Essay argues that antidiscrimination law fails to address intersectional race and gender discrimination against black women through such grooming restrictions because it does not recognize braided, twisted, and locked hairstyles as black-female equivalents of Afros, which are protected as racial characteristics under existing law. The …


Teaching Employment Discrimination, Angela Onwuachi-Willig Apr 2010

Teaching Employment Discrimination, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

In this Essay, I explore and discuss various methods for effectively teaching civil rights to this "post-racial" generation. Specifically, I examine the following four classroom challenges: (1) this generation's general lack of understanding about the historical context in which many civil rights laws-for purposes of this Essay, Title VII-arose; (2) the general lack of real-life work experience among many law students; (3) a growing decline in the racial and ethnic diversity of law school classes; and (4) the increasing complexities of discrimination in the workplace, including forms of discrimination such as proxy discrimination and demands for covering. 11 I analyze …


The Consequences Of Congress's Choice Of Delegate: Judicial And Agency Interpretations Of Title Vii, Margaret H. Lemos Mar 2010

The Consequences Of Congress's Choice Of Delegate: Judicial And Agency Interpretations Of Title Vii, Margaret H. Lemos

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although Congress delegates lawmaking authority to both courts and agencies, we know remarkably little about the determinants-and even less about the consequences-of the choice between judicial and administrative process. The few scholars who have sought to understand the choice of delegate have used formal modeling to illuminate various aspects of the decision from the perspective of the enacting Congress. That approach yields useful insight into the likely preferences of rational legislators, but tells us nothing about how (or whether) those preferences play out in the behavior of courts and agencies. Without such knowledge, we have no way of testing the …


What Best To Protect Transsexuals From Discrimination: Using Current Legislation Or Adopting A New Judicial Framework, S. Elizabeth Malloy Jan 2010

What Best To Protect Transsexuals From Discrimination: Using Current Legislation Or Adopting A New Judicial Framework, S. Elizabeth Malloy

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This article specifically examines the issues and controversies that transsexual individuals have encountered as a result of their lack of protection under anti-discrimination laws, particularly the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title VII. Part I is an overview of our society's binary sex/gender system and how this system serves to exclude and disenfranchise transsexuals. Part II examines the relationship between disability law and transsexuals, both explaining why they were excluded from the ADA and how state disability laws have provided more protection. Part III discusses how transsexuals have fared under a Title VII sex discrimination approach. This section also …


Gross Disunity, Martin J. Katz Jan 2010

Gross Disunity, Martin J. Katz

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This Article will proceed as follows: Part I will explain Gross in terms of causation and unification. Part II will argue that Gross rejected the doctrine of uniformity, a well-established and useful canon of statutory construction, without explanation. Part III will show how the courts‟ post-1991 rejection of uniformity, culminating in Gross, might be seen as a form of judicial recalcitrance. However, that Part will suggest that the Court's rejection of uniformity in Gross is better understood as a rejection of burden-shifting in disparate treatment doctrine. Finally, Part IV will argue that burden-shifting is normatively desirable in disparate treatment doctrine, …


Respecting Working Mothers With Infant Children: The Need For Increased Federal Intervention To Develop, Protect And Support A Breastfeeding Culture In The United States, Heather M. Kolinsky Jan 2010

Respecting Working Mothers With Infant Children: The Need For Increased Federal Intervention To Develop, Protect And Support A Breastfeeding Culture In The United States, Heather M. Kolinsky

Scholarly Articles

The author argues that the benefits of breastfeeding are overwhelming and that more needs to be done to ensure that all women have a viable option to continue breastfeeding upon returning to work, particularly the working poor and minorities. Those least likely to breastfeed are more likely to be part of an at risk population in terms of health. Most significantly, the lack of a cohesive policy in the workplace has had a disparate impact on the most vulnerable populations of breastfeeding mothers and their children. The lack of federal protection and a patchwork of protection in the states have …


After Iqbal, Joseph Seiner Jan 2010

After Iqbal, Joseph Seiner

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Race, Sex And Genes At Work: Uncovering The Lessons Of Norman-Bloodsaw, Elizabeth Pendo Jan 2010

Race, Sex And Genes At Work: Uncovering The Lessons Of Norman-Bloodsaw, Elizabeth Pendo

All Faculty Scholarship

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (“GINA”) is the first federal, uniform protection against the use of genetic information in both the workplace and health insurance. Signed into law on May 21, 2008, GINA prohibits an employer or health insurer from acquiring or using an individual’s genetic information, with some exceptions. One of the goals of GINA is to eradicate actual, or perceived, discrimination based on genetic information in the workplace and in health insurance. Although the threat of genetic discrimination is often discussed in universal terms - as something that could happen to any of us - the …


Back To Color Blindness: Recent Developments In Race Discrimination Law In The United States, Marcia L. Mccormick Jan 2010

Back To Color Blindness: Recent Developments In Race Discrimination Law In The United States, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

The United States has a long and somewhat conflicted history of espousing egalitarian values and yet tolerating a certain level of subordination of particular groups to a greater or lesser extent at the same time. Like many countries, it struggles with reconciling the goals of equality, pluralism, and liberty, and the balance has been struck differently at different times. In the current wave of such efforts, the Supreme Court is marking an increasingly formalist approach to the question of discrimination, while Congress appears to be pushing a slightly more substantive approach to discrimination. This short paper analyzes the Court’s recent …


The Missing Minority Judges, Pat K. Chew, Luke T. Kelley-Chew Jan 2010

The Missing Minority Judges, Pat K. Chew, Luke T. Kelley-Chew

Articles

This essay documents the lack of Asian-American judges and considers the consequences.


Regulating Cyberharassment: Some Thoughts On Sexual Harassment 2.0, Helen Norton Jan 2010

Regulating Cyberharassment: Some Thoughts On Sexual Harassment 2.0, Helen Norton

Publications

No abstract provided.


In Search Of The Reasonable Woman: Anti-Discrimination Rhetoric In The United States, Francis J. Mootz Iii Jan 2010

In Search Of The Reasonable Woman: Anti-Discrimination Rhetoric In The United States, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

This article emerged from my participation in a Symposium addressing global perspectives on the topic, "Anti-Discrimination Discourse and Practices," sponsored by The Jean Monnet Chair of European Law at Cagliari University, Sardinia. The article examines the rhetorical development of the "reasonable woman" standard of hostile work environment sexual harassment under Title VII. I argue that the rhetorical framing of the standard has unnecessarily limited its impact, perhaps to the point of undermining its potential to radically revise our understanding of gender discrimination. I suggest how the rhetorical power of the standard might be recovered.


Shift Happens: The U.S. Supreme Court's Shifting Antidiscrimination Rhetoric, Theresa M. Beiner Jan 2010

Shift Happens: The U.S. Supreme Court's Shifting Antidiscrimination Rhetoric, Theresa M. Beiner

Faculty Scholarship

The United States Supreme Court’s discourse on discrimination affects how fundamental civil rights - such as the right to be free from gender and race discrimination - are adjudicated and conceptualized in this country. Shortly after Congress passed Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Court established precedent that assumed discrimination, absent some other compelling explanation for employer conduct. While the Court was more reluctant to presume such discrimination by governmental actors, it was deferent to Congress’s ability to set standards that would presume discrimination. Over time, however, that presumption and the Court’s deference to Congress has …


A Social Movement History Of Title Vii Disparate Impact Analysis, Susan Carle Jan 2010

A Social Movement History Of Title Vii Disparate Impact Analysis, Susan Carle

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Ricci v. DeStefano suggests trouble ahead for disparate impact analysis under Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991. Commentators, too, have begun to question the policy bases for this doctrine. Part of the current tenuousness surrounding disparate impact analysis, which the Court first approved in its 1971 opinion in Griggs v. Duke Power Company, stems from assumptions that the EEOC pursued this theory as a last-minute, ill-conceived afterthought that was not in keeping with Congress’s intent when it passed Title VII in 1964. In this Article I use the …


Discrimination Redefined, Ann C. Mcginley Jan 2010

Discrimination Redefined, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

In this Response to Professor Natasha Martin's article Pretext in Peril, Professor Ann McGinley argues that courts' retrenchment in cases interpreting Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act results from a narrow definition of discrimination that focuses on conscious, intentional discrimination. Increasingly social science research demonstrates that much disparate treatment occurs as a result of unconscious biases, but the courts' reluctance to consider this social science has led, in many cases, to a literal, narrow definition of “pretext." Moreover, she posits that the recent Supreme Court case of Ricci v. DeStefano redefines discrimination in an ahistorical and acontextual …


Bridging The Title Vii Gap: Protecting All Workers From “Work Authorization” Discrimination, Rachel K. Alexander Jan 2010

Bridging The Title Vii Gap: Protecting All Workers From “Work Authorization” Discrimination, Rachel K. Alexander

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.


Regulatory Adjudication, Marcia L. Mccormick Jan 2010

Regulatory Adjudication, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

Calls for increased regulation are flying fast and furious these days. We use regulation in the United States to prevent harm that various kinds of activities might cause and also to create positive external benefits that those activities could yield, but might not without incentives. Most regulatory programs in the United States provide a blend of measures designed to create these positive external benefits, promote good practices in the industry, prevent harms, and provide those harmed with remedies. At a time in which we contemplate new ways to regulate to deal with the crises of the day and prevent the …


Of Visible Race-Consciousness And Institutional Role: Equal Protection And Disparate Impact After Ricci And Inclusive Communities, Richard A. Primus Jan 2010

Of Visible Race-Consciousness And Institutional Role: Equal Protection And Disparate Impact After Ricci And Inclusive Communities, Richard A. Primus

Book Chapters

Six years ago, Ricci v. DeStefano foregrounded the possibility that statutory disparate-impact standards like the one in Title VIl might be on a collision course with the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. For many observers, it was a radically new possibility. Until that point, disparate-impact doctrine had usually been understood as an ally of equal protection rather than as a potentially conflicting aspect of the law. But between the 1970s and the beginning of the present century, equal protection doctrine became more individualistic and less tolerant of race-conscious actions intended to redress inherited racial hierarchies. Those developments put equal protection …