Labor + Employment Workforce Watch is a guide to the employment law developments most likely to impact your business. The Troutman Pepper Locke Labor + Employment Team represents employers in the most sensitive workplace matters, enabling our clients to concentrate on their core business operations. Our team is adept at handling and managing labor and employment issues on national, international, and local levels. Recognized as a leading law firm by Chambers USA, our attorneys provide comprehensive advice on every type of employment issue a company may encounter, at every stage of the employment life cycle.
Owen Peters
Supreme Court Strikes Down Sixth Circuit Rule Heightening Discrimination Standard for Members of Majority Groups
By Seth Ford & Owen Peters on
Posted in Discrimination, Labor
A recent Supreme Court decision clarified that discrimination claims brought by members of majority groups in so-called “reverse discrimination” cases cannot be subject to a heightened evidentiary burden. In Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the Court ruled that a Sixth Circuit requirement that members of a “majority group” (such as heterosexual employees) must satisfy a heightened evidentiary standard for discrimination claims was incompatible with the language of Title VII and with Supreme Court precedent. The unanimous decision written by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson resolves a circuit split, as the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, and D.C. circuit courts of appeals had previously imposed a higher evidentiary burden on discrimination claims brought by majority group members.