Tag: gender identity

Oklahoma jury awards transgender worker $1.165 million in bias suit

by Charlie Plumb The courts, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) hold differing views on whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or sexual identity. Nevertheless, on November 20, an Oklahoma City federal court jury awarded a transgender […]

Diversity

Employers look to ‘culture of inclusiveness’ in era of expanding LGBT rights

Inclusiveness, civility, respectful treatment: Those are all concepts getting a lot of attention as employers struggle to cope with what seems like an increasingly divisive culture often threatening to bleed over into the workplace.  A changing legal landscape also must be considered as employers strive for productive and nondiscriminatory working environments. For example, a landmark […]

Stage is set for SCOTUS to rule on Title VII and sexual orientation

by Ryan B. Frazier Since the civil rights movement of the 1960s, state and federal laws have been enacted to prohibit employment discrimination against individuals on the basis of their race, ethnicity, age, disability, religion, and gender. Until recently, virtually none of those antidiscrimination laws covered employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. […]

New media rating seeks to bring common sense to gender stereotyping

When my son was five and constantly arguing and negotiating for extra dessert or whatever it was that he wanted at any given time, people would often say, “You should be a lawyer!” His response was always: “I don’t want to be a lawyer because that’s a girl’s job.” While slightly humorous because lawyers are […]

EEOC maintains steady position on transgender employees’ rights

by JW Furman With all the attention given to President Donald Trump’s recent removal of the Obama administration’s protection for transgender bathroom access, it’s important to remember that the action applies only to public school students. For employers, the issue remains as unsettled as ever.  There’s no reason to believe that the Equal Employment Opportunity […]

VA student’s transgender bathroom case will not pass ‘Go’ . . . yet

by Rachael L. Loughlin Transgender issues continue to be one of the hottest areas of the law today. Recent actions by the Trump administration backing away from the Obama administration’s forceful advocacy of transgender rights may have come as no surprise. Nonetheless, they certainly didn’t help clarify the law. In fact, if anything, the Trump […]

Will & Grace reunited

Ever since the cast of Will & Grace reunited for a mini episode encouraging all of us to vote in 2016, the Internet has been in a frenzy about the possibility of a revival 18 years after the show first aired. In January, the news broke that NBC has ordered a 10-episode limited revival series […]

Supreme Court’s action on transgender rights keeps employers watching

The U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement that it has decided not to hear arguments in a case regarding restroom access for transgender students doesn’t directly affect employment, but it puts employers on notice to keep up with developments that could affect the workplace. On March 6, the Court announced that it is sending back to a […]