C'mon, Supreme Court: Settle this one!

Last week, I had a short post about the position taken by the U.S. Department of Justice in the Zarda v. Altitude Express "gay skydiver" case.

The DOJ has directly opposed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which had also filed a brief in the case. The EEOC says that sexual orientation discrimination is prohibited by Title VII. The DOJ says it isn't.

(As I noted last week, the ...

The U.S. Department of Labor's new Persuader Rule, which was scheduled to take effect July 1 before it was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in Lubbock, Texas, has now been permanently enjoined. That means the new Rule is dead, subject to the DOL's right to appeal the decision. And, of course, with the incoming Trump Administration, it isn't clear whether the DOL will bother with ...

Law360 reported this morning that the State of North Carolina has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Justice in federal court in Raleigh. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment (official ruling from the court) that, by enforcing HB 2's provisions regarding "bathroom use and changing facility use by state employees," the state is not in violation of Title VII of the Civil ...

The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter yesterday to Gov. Pat McCrory, giving him until Monday, May 9, to "confirm" that he does not plan to enforce the "bathroom" provisions of HB 2 as they apply to public agencies. If he fails to confirm, the DOJ is putting him on notice that he and the State of North Carolina are engaged in a "pattern or practice" of discrimination against ...

Under ordinary circumstances, we advise employees who are victims of harassment or bullying to let the bully know that the behavior is not welcome. Then, if the behavior continues, the victim should take it up the chain of command, or directly to Human Resources.

This is fine for those employees who are strong and confident enough to believe that they can do it. But some are not. Maybe ...