Archive for U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Heightened Standard for “Reverse Discrimination” Claims

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Ames v. Ohio Dept. of Youth Services that white, heterosexual, and other “majority group” employees are not required to meet a heightened standard in order to prove illegal employment discrimination.  This decision puts majority group plaintiffs on the same legal…

Landmark Supreme Court Decision Expands Whistleblower Protections

In a major victory for whistleblowers, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of Trevor Murray, a former UBS employee who was fired after reporting what he believed to be illegal activity. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Murray v. UBS expands protections for whistleblowers under the Sarbanes-Oxley…

California’s Supreme Court Erases Viking River’s PAGA Victory for Employers

The California Supreme Court recently issued its highly anticipated decision in Adolph v. Uber and answered the key question of whether the California courts would follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Viking River.  The California Supreme Court’s answer was a resounding “NO.”  Now, after Adolph v. Uber,…

Supreme Court: Employers Must Accommodate Employees’ Religious Practices

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled, in Groff v. DeJoy, that employers have a heightened duty to accommodate their employees’ religious practices.

California Courts are Refusing to Follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s Viking River Decision

California Courts are Refusing to Follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s Viking River Decision, which means that U.S. Supreme Court decision may not offer employers a clever PAGA escape hatch after all.

U.S. Supreme Court Delivers Bombshell PAGA Ruling in Favor of Employers

On June 15, 2022, in a blockbuster case known as Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, the U.S. Supreme Court finally answered a burning employment law issue here in California – whether California’s rule prohibiting the use of arbitration agreements to force an employee to waive her right…

U.S. Supreme Court: No Separation of Church and Employer

In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on two important cases relating to religion and employment.  In both decisions, the Court came down squarely on the side of religious freedom, ruling in favor of employers. In Our Lady of Guadalupe School, two teachers brought employment discrimination claims against their…

Supreme Court Bombshell: Title VII Protects LGBTQ Employees from Workplace Discrimination

On June 15, 2020, in Bostock v. Clayton County, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) protects LGBTQ employees from workplace discrimination and assures LGBTQ employees of equal treatment in all “terms and conditions”…

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Class Action Waivers

It was only a few weeks ago.  California employees and their lawyers were jubilant after the CA Supreme Court delivered its game-changing Dynamex decision that made it even harder for California employers to properly classify workers as independent contractors.  As a result, employment protections were extended to millions of California…

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Determine Legality of Class Action Waivers in Employee Arbitration Agreements

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether class action waivers in employee arbitration agreements violate federal law.  This is a huge development, with potentially far-reaching implications for many California employers.  But, first, a little background (okay, actually it’s a lot of background, but it’s important) —…