This week Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, called Anita Hill and left a message on her answering machine inviting her to apologize for testifying during Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearings. The call brought back, with surprising immediacy, those 1991 hearings. For those too young to remember, the hearings may be little …
On August 5, 2010, the California Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision concerning the type of evidence a worker can rely upon to prove an employer discriminated against him or her. The Court’s decision concerns the so-called “stray remarks doctrine.” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor coined the term in a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision, writing …
The forced arbitration of claims arising out of statutory protections for consumers and employees has become a hot topic at the Kagan hearings. The parade of comments by Senators started even before the hearings began, with a written statement by Senator Leahy criticizing the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Rent-a-Center v. Jackson, and similar remarks on the …
On May 5 and 6, House and Senate committees held back-to-back hearings on legislation to override a June 2009 Supreme Court decision that stripped older workers of vital protections against bias on which they had relied for over 40 years. In this ruling, which Justice Stevens in dissent characterized as “unabashed judicial law-making,” “irresponsible,” and …
Will Congress Restore Equal Opportunity for Older Workers? Read More »
Age Discrimination Legislation Will Overturn Gross Decision Last June, the Supreme Court issued the awful and controversial age discrimination opinion in the Gross v. FBL Financial Services case. I wrote about the case at that time and predicted that it was just a matter of time until Congress fixed it with a bill that would …
Congress Introduces Age Discrimination Bill To Fix Supreme Court’s Gross Decision Read More »
Mike Zimmer (Loyola), co-author of the leading casebook on employment discrimination and friend of the blog has provided these thoughts on the Supreme Court’s Ricci decision from yesterday. 1. The Holding. The defendants’ decision to not use test results because their use would have meant that no African-American and only two Hispanics, who made up …
Did the Supreme Court Discriminate Against Victims of Age Discrimination? The only good thing to say about the new age discrimination case of Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. is that it will be gone in a flash. There are so many things wrong with it that it’s hard to know where to begin, and …
New Supreme Court Age Discrimination Decision Will Be Gone in a Flash Read More »
On May 27 Workplace Fairness interns Hannah Goitein, Jessica Haden, Shannon Lichtenberg, and I participated in a conference call with The Coalition for Constitutional Values. This national coalition of organizations represents millions of Americans from across the country who believe it is important that the American people be informed about the nomination of Judge Sonia …
Judge Sonia Sotomayor Confirmation: What You Can Do Read More »
Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor is taking heat for being a member of the three-judge panel in Ricci v. DeStefano, a case filed by seventeen white firefighters and one Latino firefighter who were the top-scorers on a multiple-choice firefighter exam. The case is currently under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court and has prompted …
Is Sotomayor a Reverse Racist?: Testing the Limits of Tests Read More »
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
