- Individual
organizational structural
- Acknowledge and combat discrimination
- Administered by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
“Job-bias complaints against private firms jump”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (5 Mar 08)
- Monitored by Commission on Civil Rights
- Enforced by DOJ’s Civil Rights Division
- WA: Human Rights Commission: RCW 49.60 (L 49)
- Prohibited discrimination
- Race/color
- National origin: tension with immigration laws [see week 1]
- EEOC enforcement guidance (27 June 02)
- EEOC on workplace rights after 9/11 (16 July 02)
- Religion
- Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2007: HR 1431
- Pregnancy: UAW v. Johnson Controls, 499 U.S. 187 (1991)
- Sexual harassment: SQ 1
- Meritor Savings v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57 (1986)
- Harris v. Forklift Systems, 510 U.S. 17 (1993)
- EEOC enforcement guidance (8 Mar 94)
- Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore, 523 U.S. 75 (1998)
- EEOC settles first all-male class action (11 Aug 99)
- Burlington Industries v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742 (1998)
- Faragher v. Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775 (1998)
Little v. Windermere, 301 F.3d 958 (9th Cir. 2001)- Rene v. MGM Grand, 305 F.3d 1061 (9th Cir. 2002), cert. denied (2003)
- PA State Police v. Suders, 542 U.S. 129 (2004)
- EEOC v. NEA, 422 F.3d 840 (9th Cir. 2005)
- Lyle v. Warner Bros. TV, 38 Cal. 4th 264 (2006)
- Hardage v. CBS [KSTW], 436 F.3d 1050 (9th Cir. 2006); cert. denied (2006)
- Sexual stereotyping
- Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989)
- Nichols v. Azteca, 256 F.3d 864 (9th Cir. 2001) “Courts increase risk employers face from same-sex harassment claims”
Holland & Knight (Dec 02)
- Sexual orientation/gender identity
- Federal: HR 311 (1999); S 19, HR 217, HR 2692/S 1284 (2001); S 16 title VII, HR 214, S 1705, HR 3285 (2003), HR 288 (2005), HR 3685 (2007)
- HI: Haw. Rev. Stat. ch 378
- MN: Minn. Stat. § 363A.08
- WA: I 677 loses (1997); HB 1515 (2005) [ report] passed House
“Gay rights bill again clears House, faces test in Senate”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (12 Feb 05) ESHB 2661 (L 06) [ report] ends 30-year battle“State gay-rights bill passed 29 years after effort began”
The Seattle Times (28 Jan 06)“A long-awaited win for gay rights: Senate OKs state anti-bias bill”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (28 Jan 06)“Gay rights bill signing pays tribute to Cal Anderson”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (1 Feb 06)“Gregoire signs gay-civil-rights bill”
The Seattle Times (1 Feb 06)“Group to battle Eyman’s plan to overturn new gay-rights law”
The Seattle Times (18 Feb 06)“Some question use of ballot box to settle issues like gay rights”
The Seattle Times (27 Feb 06)Opinion: “Equal treatment is a basic right”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (11 May 06)“Eyman fails to deliver”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7 June 06)
- Seattle: SMC ch 14.04 (1980)
- States cannot ban local protection
- Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996)
- Veterans in WA: SB 5123 (L 07) [ report]
- Employer liability for harassment by supervisors (21 June 99)
- EEOC enforcement guidance (18 June 99) updated (29 Oct 99)
- Covered employers
- Equitable relief
- Two theories of discrimination
- Disparate treatment = intentional discrimination
- Private, non-class action, discrimination suit
- Prima facie case
- McDonnell Douglas v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973)
- Swierkiewicz v. Sorema, 534 U.S. 506 (2002)
- Employer defense
- Furnco v. Waters, 438 U.S. 567 (1978)
- Pretext evidence
- St. Mary’s v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502 (1993)
- “Mixed motives” in Hopkins
- Desert Palace v. Costa, 539 U.S. 90 (2003)
- Prima facie case
- Private, non-class action, discrimination suit
- Disparate impact = discriminatory result
- Objective criteria
- Griggs v. Duke Power, 401 U.S. 424 (1971)
- Subjective criteria: SQ 2
- Watson v. Fort Worth B&T, 487 U.S. 977 (1988)
- Disproportionate adverse effect
- “Facially neutral” treatment
- “Pattern or practice” consequence
- Evidence of effect on protected class
- Use of statistics
- Workers keep burden of proof
- Wards Cove v. Atonio, 490 U.S. 642 (1989)
- Atonio v. Wards Cove, 275 F.3d 797 (9th Cir. 2001)
“Wards Cove discrimination case apparently at an end”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (27 Dec 01)
- Objective criteria
- Disparate treatment = intentional discrimination
- Civil Rights Act of 1991
- Punitive damages: Kolstad v. ADA 527 U.S. 526 (1999)
- EEOC obtains $1.3 million in construction case (7 Jan 00)
- WA: RCW 49.60.180,.190,.200 (L 49-06)
- Prohibited discrimination
- Cleveland v. PMSC, 526 U.S. 795 (1999)
- Sutton v. UAL, 527 U.S. 471 (1999)
- Murphy v. UPS, 527 U.S. 516 (1999)
“Court seeks to clarify rules on disability”
The Seattle Times (20 Apr 99) - Toyota v. Williams, 534 U.S. 184 (2002)
“Supreme Court sharply restricts who qualifies as disabled on the job”
The Seattle Times (9 Jan 02) - US Airways v. Barnett, 535 U.S. 391 (2002)
“Seniority may trump disability on the job, Supreme Court rules”
The Seattle Times (30 Apr 02) - Chevron v. Echazabal, 536 U.S. 73 (2002)
“Supreme Court’s 9-0 decision narrows disabilities act”
The Seattle Times (11 June 02) - Hearing-impaired truck drivers? Bates v. UPS (9th Cir. 2007)
- Excludes drug users, those under alcohol influence on job
- AIDS/HIV
- Bragdon v. Abbott, 524 U.S. 624 (1998)
- WA: RCW 49.60.172 (L 88)
- EEOC psychiatric disability enforcement guidance (1 Feb 00)
- EEOC sues roofer for mental disability discrimination (30 Sept 02)
- Attempted murder? Josephs v. Pac Bell, 432 F.3d 1006 (9th Cir. 2005)
- ADA Amendments Act of 2008: SB 3406 (PL 08); notice
“President Bush signs the ADA Amendments Act of 2008”
Baker Botts LLP (26 Sept 08) - Genetic discrimination/testing
- NHGRI: Privacy and discrimination in genetics
- EEOC and BNSF settle genetic testing case (8 May 02)
“Genetic test goes from lab to courts”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (26 Mar 01)“Genetic testing”
PBS NewsHour (7 June 01) - Federal: S 19, HR 602/S 318 (2001); S 1995 (2002); S 16 title VIII (2003)
“Bush: Outlaw genetic discrimination”
CBS News (23 June 01)“Worrying over genetic discrimination”
CBS News (19 Dec 02)- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA): S 1053 (2003), S 306 (2005), HR 493 (PL 08)
“Senate bans bias based on genetics”
The Seattle Times (15 Oct 03)“Congress votes to ban genetic discrimination”
Reuters (1 May 08)“Bush signs genetic nondiscrimination bill into law”
GenomeWeb Daily News (21 May 08)“Bush signs anti-discrimination bill”
USA TODAY (21 May 08)- Proposed rules (2 Mar 09); Q&A
“EEOC proposes regulations for Genetic
Information Nondiscrimination Act”
World of Work (Stoel Rives) (2 Mar 09)
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA): S 1053 (2003), S 306 (2005), HR 493 (PL 08)
- WA: RCW 49.44.180; ESB 6180 [ report] (L 04)
- Obesity?
“Lending heft to an anti-bias campaign”
Chicago Tribune (28 Apr 08)
- Employer responsibilities
- Reasonable accommodation (17 Oct 02)
- Employee rights
- EEOC obtains $5.5 million in epilepsy case (6 Jan 97)
- Prohibited discrimination
- No mandatory retirement since 1987
- Replacement may be 40 or older
- O’Connor v. Consolidated, 517 U.S. 308 (1996)
- Law does not apply “in reverse”
- General Dynamics v. Cline, 540 U.S. 581 (2004)
“Justices block reverse age discrimination cases”
USA Today (24 Feb 04)
- General Dynamics v. Cline, 540 U.S. 581 (2004)
- Disparate impact applies
- Smith v. City of Jackson, 544 U.S. 228 (2005)
- Permissive filing standard
- FedEx v. Holowecki, 552 U.S. ___ (27 Feb 08)
“Supreme Court alters tone in discrimination case”
The New York Times (28 Feb 08)
- Employer responsibilities
- Exceptions
- Executives or policymakers aged 65
- Tenured higher ed faculty aged 70 until 1994
- Apprenticeship until May 96
- Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1990 amended ADEA
- Prohibited discrimination
- Oubre v. Entergy, 522 U.S. 422 (1998)
- EEOC waiver regulations (4 June 98)
- EEOC cash balance pension team (20 Sept 99) [see week 5]
- WA: RCW 49.44.090 (L 61-93)
- Differences in earnings by age and sex in 2005 (2 Oct 06)
- Men’s and women’s work hours, 2005 (4 Oct 06)
- Women in the professions (5 Dec 06)
- Changes in men’s and women’s labor force participation rates (10 Jan 07)
“Drop in working women”
The Seattle Times (8 July 06) - Highest and lowest paying occupational groups, 2006 (22 May 07)
- Change in employment by major occupation and sex, 2005-06 (12 June 07)
- Weekly earnings in second quarter 2007 by demographics (20 July 07)
- Usual weekly earnings by educational attainment and sex (19 Oct 07)
- Differences in women’s earnings by educational level, 2006 (4 Dec 07)
- Average hours that men and women worked in 2007 (26 June 08)
- Women’s earnings as a % of men’s, 1979-2007 (29 Oct 08)
- Earnings of women and men by race and ethnicity, 2007 (30 Oct 08)
- Women’s earnings by occupation in 2007 (31 Oct 08)
- Working in 2007 (24 Dec 08)
- Women and employment by industry (7 Jan 09)
- Labor force participation rate of mothers, 1975-2007 (8 Jan 09)
- Prohibited discrimination
- Covered employers
- Equal work standards
- Defenses: seniority, merit, production, any other non-sex factor
- “Comparable worth”: EEOC (11 May 00)
- DOL Women’s Bureau: Clinton’s “equal pay checklist”
- Paycheck Fairness Act: S 16 title VI, S 76, HR 1688 (2003), HR 1338 (2007)
- Fair Pay Act: HR 1695/S 841 (2003), HR 1697/S 840 (2005), HR 2019/S 1087 (2007)
- Ledbetter v. Goodyear, 550 U.S. 618 (2007)
“Over Ginsburg’s dissent, Court limits bias suits”
The Washington Post (30 May 07)- Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007: HR 2831
- Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2007: S 1843
“Courting disaster”
Mother Jones (7 Feb 08) - Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009: S 181
“Obama signs Lilly Ledbetter Act”
The Washington Post (29 Jan 09)
- EEOC guidance (26 May 98)
- BN&SF Railway v. White, 548 U.S. 53 (2006)
“Court makes it easier for workers to sue”
The Seattle Times (23 June 06)“Court eases standard for workers to prove retaliation”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (23 June 06) - Crawford v. Nashville, 555 U.S. ___ (26 Jan 09)
“Justices back worker in retaliation case”
The Washington Post (27 Jan 09)Editorial: “A blow for common sense”
The Washington Post (30 Jan 09)
| Opinion: “Equal rights nonsense” The Wall Street Journal (8 Feb 08) |