Sex Discrimination - Orientation And Identity

In addition to issues involving the environment, immigration, and national security, the Trump Administration has been in the headlines recently for its stance on matters impacting the LGBT community.

Executive Summary: There has been much speculation about the Trump administration’s position with respect to LGBTQ rights. We may now have our first glimpse. Just days after Jeff Sessions was confirmed as Attorney General, the government has withdrawn the motion filed by the Obama administration att

In a wave of executive actions taken by incoming President Trump repealing or modifying a variety of actions taken by President Obama, a question loomed regarding the future of current federal LGBT protections afforded under Executive Order 13672. That question has been answered. The White House ann

The prohibition against sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act extends to sexual orientation, Judge Cathy Bissoon of the Western District of Pennsylvania has ruled. EEOC v. Scott Medical Health Ctr., No. 16-225 (W.D. Pa. Nov. 4, 2016).

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral argument in one of the high-profile challenges to the legality of the Dear Colleague Letter (“DCL”) jointly issued by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education on May 13, 2016, announcing the Departments would “treat a student’s gender identity as t

Executive Summary: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not specifically include sexual orientation as one of its protected traits. In July 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for the first time took the position that Title VII protects federal employees from sexual or

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, has vacated the July 28, 2016, decision of a Seventh Circuit three-judge panel holding that sexual orientation discrimination is not sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and granted rehearing en banc (by the full co

A flurry of judicial activity has surrounded the Obama Administration’s efforts to provide legal protection to transgender individuals by extending protection against sex discrimination to cover gender identity under Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has recognized that marriages of couples of the same sex should be treated the same as marriages of couples of the opposite sex for federal tax purposes. On September 2, 2016, the IRS issued final regulations — in furtherance of the Supreme Court’s decisions in O

Finding the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission failed to accommodate the religious beliefs of a funeral home’s owner who fired a transgender employee under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a federal district court has dismissed the Commission’s discrimination lawsuit brought under Title V

The anti-discrimination protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act do not encompass workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, has held. Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, No. 15-1720 (7th Cir. July 28, 2016

We have all heard about the Obama administration’s directive barring employers and schools from gender identity discrimination and the battle over North Carolina’s law, known as H.B.2, which requires people to use bathrooms that match the gender listed on their birth certificate. But aside from the

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has stated definitively that it interprets, and will enforce accordingly, the Civil Right Act’s Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination as encompassing employment discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Employers should review

North Carolina’s law restricting access to restrooms based on an individual’s sex assigned at birth and not based on an individual’s consistent gender identity violates both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the United States Department of Justice ha

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s new fact sheet focuses on bathroom access and reminds employers that discrimination based on transgender status is sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and contrary state law (such as North Carolina’s HB-2, Mississippi’s

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) continues its aggressive push toward expanding the definition of sex discrimination under Title VII to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. While 22 states, including Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, have already add

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) has issued a potentially groundbreaking decision finding that discrimination based on "sexual orientation" can be brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).1 In so ruling, the Commission rejected several

OSHA’s recent publication of its Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers (“Guide”) further forged OSHA’s foray into the spotlight of the hotly prolific LBGT rights discussion. The Guide, which aims to assure that employers provide a safe and healthful working environment for all employees,

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued what can only be described as a landmark decision, ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires (i) all states to permit marriage between same-sex couples, and (ii) all states to recognize marriages performed in other states,

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has issued its highly anticipated ruling that states must legally recognize same-sex marriages, what specific impacts will it have on the employment relationship and employee benefits?