By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Christopher J. DeGroff, and Alex W. Karasik
Seyfarth Synopsis: After a Fifth Circuit decision affirming a ruling by a U.S. District Court in Texas allowed the EEOC to seek compensatory and punitive damages in its high-profile Title VII pattern or practice race discrimination lawsuit against Bass Pro,
By: Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Alex Karasik
Seyfarth Synopsis: In an ADA action regarding disability discrimination, the Fifth Circuit reversed a District Court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the employer and against the EEOC, noting that even though the charging party indicated she had a temporary total disability on a disability insurance
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Michael L. DeMarino
Seyfarth Synopsis: Hispanic employees of a poultry processing plant alleged harassment and abuse on the job. The company claimed that the employees’ allegations were fabricated in order to obtain U visas, which are available to immigrant abuse victims who assist in government investigations. Over the
By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., Pamela Q. Devata, Robert T. Szyba, and Ephraim J. Pierre
On June 27, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed a victory to the State of Texas in Texas v. EEOC , No. 14-10949 (5th Cir. June 27, 2016), by remanding back to the
By Gerald L. Maatman Jr. and Howard M. Wexler
Last year, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas dismissed a high profile lawsuit brought by the State of Texas against the EEOC regarding the its “Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Under Title VII.” The
By Christopher J. DeGroff and Julie G. Yap
The EEOC has been consistent in its message about conciliation: nobody should tell us how to conciliate our cases, not even the courts.
Conciliation is a mandatory step the EEOC must take before filing a case in federal court. It is designed to allow employers an opportunity
By Dennis A. Clifford and Christopher J. DeGroff
As we previously blogged here, the EEOC has historically paid particular interest to cases involving gender stereotypes, with various degrees of success. As many courts have observed, harassment based on a perceived failure to conform with gender stereotypes is not necessarily harassment “because of sex” under