Flight attendant Charlene Carter sued her employer and her union alleging, among other things, that they discriminated against her on the basis of religion, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). In July 2022, a jury awarded Ms. Carter $5.1 million. This sum appears to be consistent with
On or about June 8, 2023, a law firm filed a complaint of discrimination with the Civil Rights Department (“CRD” [formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing]) and requested a right to sue notice on behalf of a former employee of Lake County who received a disability retirement through the California Public Employees’ Retirement
On March 15, 2023, CalPERS issued Circular Letter 200-014-23, setting forth new requirements that contracting agencies must follow when determining whether local safety members are substantially incapacitated from performance of their usual duties for the purposes of a disability retirement. Specifically, under Circular Letter 200-014-23, agencies are now required to submit additional documentation and
California public agencies often accept funds, grants, and other federal financial assistance either directly from a federal department or agency, or indirectly through a California department or agency. Typically, when a public agency accepts federal financial assistance – either directly or indirectly – it must comply with specific obligations as a condition of receipt. Often
This year, the California Legislature passed and the Governor approved the Contraceptive Equity Act of 2022 (Senate Bill 523 or SB 523), a piece of legislation intended to increase the ability of Californians to exercise full control over their reproductive decisions and to expand coverage and decrease access barriers to reproductive health services.
Among other
On October 31, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases: Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard. The Court’s resulting decision now stands to determine the fate of race-conscious admissions in higher education.
Brief Factual Background
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On September 18, 2022, Governor Newsom signed and approved Assembly Bill 2188 (“AB 2188”), which amends the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) to generally prohibit an employer from discriminating against an employee or employment applicant for cannabis use off the job and away from work, which is a significant change to the
On Monday, September 12, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education closed the two-month comment period for the public to voice their opinions on the proposed changes to Title IX, the federal law that governs how schools supported by federal funding respond to forms of sex discrimination. Over 200,000 comments flooded the U.S. Department of Education
On June 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay and transgender employees from discrimination. The Court’s decision was 6-3 and the opinion was authored by Justice Gorsuch, who was joined in the decision by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and
Let’s set the scene. It’s February of 2020, and an employee comes to you, a supervisor, to “vent” about being the target of off-color comments and jokes due to the employee’s national origin. The employee does not use the term “harassment.” Moreover, the employee tells you that they are just talking it out, and they