On August 18, 2023, significant changes were made to employer liability in instances of disparate treatment, as decided in the Hamilton v. Dallas County case by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. This decision has expanded the circumstances for employer exposure under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (“Title VII”). Preceding…
Georgetown Law’s Appellate Courts Immersion Clinic and Ellwanger Law have made headlines after the full Fifth Circuit reevaluated a longstanding precedent related to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In a significant development, the Fifth Circuit reassessed the scope of Title VII, which had previously been restricted to “ultimate employment decisions”. Law360’s report on…
Attending law school is an undeniably tough endeavour, but Boston College Law School student Samantha Perlman proves it doesn’t have to be a barrier to public service. Perlman is not only managing her studies, but she’s also aiming to become mayor of her hometown, Marlborough, Massachusetts. This prominent link between the legal academia and political…
Last week a local newspaper in Kansas, The Marion Record, was raided by local police, leading to a significant outcry from civil rights advocates, journalists, and legal professionals across the country. In a turn of events that should alarm anyone concerned with the balance of power between the press and law enforcement, the Marion County…
On July 26, 2023, Hillsborough County reported a significant data breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. The breach, which involved the MOVEit file transfer tool, potentially put the personal data of local residents in jeopardy. According to the report filed by Hillsborough County, an unauthorized third party…
In a significant recent case, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) has filed a lawsuit against Fearless Fund Management LLC, a black women-run company. The crux of the litigation is claims of racial discrimination and violations of Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This lawsuit, filed in federal court in Atlanta…
Radius Global Solutions, LLC, a major player in the business services arena, recently disclosed that they suffered a significant data breach due to vulnerabilities in their MOVEit server. The details surrounding the breach were clarified in a notice, filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights on August 4,…
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently proposed amendments to the HIPAA guidelines, specifically the Standards for Privacy for Individually Identifiable Health Information (the “Privacy Rule”), as indicated by an April 17, 2023 release. This proposal pertains to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act…
President Joe Biden’s nominee, Kalpana Kotagal, was sworn into the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Wednesday. Kotagal’s background in civil rights litigation, including experience with Title VII, the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act, is considered central to the agency’s draft enforcement plan that was…
Donald Trump has recently been vehemently expressing his discontent concerning the DC Circuit’s latest order which upheld sanctions on Twitter for not providing his account information to Special Counsel Jack Smith quickly enough. The former President sees this as an egregious violation of his civil rights. The Circuit Court’s mandate, originating from a search warrant…
On July 24, 2023, following on the heels of the landmark Supreme Court decision that called into question affirmative action practices in college admissions, a new development emerged. The U.S. Department of Education, through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), moved swiftly to instigate what promises to be a detailed investigation into the long-standing practices…
In a recent development, the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights (DCR) has issued new guidance on how it will enforce the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision on LGBTQ+ rights in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. The Supreme Court’s decision is a landmark judgement that significantly influences the…
A recent U.S. legal dispute is challenging the boundaries between civil rights protections and religious freedom, causing much debate amongst legal professionals. The case stems from the Supreme Court case Groff v. Dejoy, which sets a new standard for religious accommodations in the workplace. A Christian music teacher, John Kluge, refused to refer to students…
On July 24, 2023, the California Office of Administrative Law endorsed alterations made by the California Civil Rights Council (CCRC) to the regulations associated with California’s Fair Chance Act. The latter prohibits employers with a workforce of at least five from asking prospective employees about their conviction history until a job offer has been extended….
On August 3, 2023, the US Department of Labor (DOL) introduced a significant final rule, “Pre-enforcement Notice and Conciliation Procedures”, designed to update the procedures employed by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The new rule revolves around the issuance of pre-enforcement notices, and effectively rolls back the changes made to employment discrimination…
The legal counsel representing students and their families in a class-action lawsuit against the Fairfax County schools and the Virginia Department of Education (DOE) are gearing up to appeal a district court’s dismissal. The dismissal is based on a new precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court. Concurrently, these representatives are calling for an investigation…
In an environment where the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, legal considerations around religious accommodations at workplaces are becoming increasingly important. Several cases have emerged where employees have objected to COVID-19 vaccination on the grounds of their religious beliefs. As laid out in Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 (\“Title VII”),…
Internationally renowned law firm, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, announced on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, that it is initiating a specialized team directed towards scrutinizing how its clientele manages aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This prominent move towards advancing social justice on the legal scene substantiates the growing importance of advocating for civil rights…
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Tou Thao has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for aiding and abetting manslaughter in the death of George Floyd in 2020. Thao is reported to have stated at his hearing that he “did not intend on doing any malice or anything like that, or try to hurt anyone” during…
The Fourth Circuit has made a pivotal alteration in its milieu on attorney’s fees for injunction wins, negating an old rule which previously impeded litigants from pursuing these fees unless they had been awarded a final judgment. In a recent ruling, the court decided that litigants in unique circumstances can be deemed a “prevailing party”…
Precision Anesthesia Billing, LLC (PAB) has recently announced a substantial data breach, impacting around 209,000 individuals. This instance contributes to a growing number of high-profile data breaches in recent years, increasingly targeting corporations in sensitive industries. As reported in JD Supra, PAB discovered that an unauthorized party had gained access to confidential patient information provided…
The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a Mississippi constitutional provision dating back to the 1890 Jim Crow era. The provision, known as Section 241, permanently disenfranchised individuals convicted of certain felonies. Judge James Dennis, writing for the majority, maintained that the 1890 Mississippi Constitution was clear in its intention to “ensure the…
Former US President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges connected with alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election. On Thursday, he appeared with his private counsel before Federal Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya in a federal courthouse in Washington D.C. to declare his plea. The charges against the former president were unveiled…
In the 19th Century, a man named Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths White and one-eighth Black, was once pejoratively referred to as an “octoroon”. Plessy grew up during the age of Reconstruction in New Orleans, a time when people of color were granted expanded civic and political rights. However, this era of relative racial progress…
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a ruling in a pair of cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) that could have significant implications for all industries. The Court struck down the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, setting a new precedent…