职业发展
诉讼专家深入探讨就业歧视法
2024年5月30日
Employment law has broad appeal as it shapes the evolving norms of the workplace. Employment discrimination law in particular involves a mix of prominent statutes such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 重大判例法, and different burdens of proof and evidence production that create a complex area of practice.
5月21日，D.C. 澳博app协会 Program presented its annual Nuts and Bolts of Employment Discrimination Law course, featuring a panel of attorneys who litigate for both plaintiffs and defendants. In addition to discussing employment discrimination that falls under Title VII’s protected categories, 小组成员还探讨了与骚扰有关的法律和情况, 报复, 残疾, 家庭病假, 怀孕期间住宿, 以及举证和陈述的责任, 机构的作用, 不同的州法律.
“What we were hoping to show is what a really interesting area of practice employment law is, 一个对真实的人有切实影响的东西,课程主持人亚当·赫尔佐格说, 华盛顿Katz Banks Kumin LLP的原告澳博app, D.C.
托马斯·墨菲，杰克逊·刘易斯澳博app事务所的辩护澳博app.C., said that the history and social context behind the various federal civil rights laws that undergird employment discrimination law are very important to appreciate. “It’s incredible to see how these landmark legislative enactments are still being interpreted by the Supreme Court some 60 years after their passage,墨菲说.
墨菲首先概述了相关的就业歧视法律, such as the federal Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. He then discussed disparate treatment (as opposed to disparate impact) claims, for which a plaintiff must establish an employer’s discriminatory intent or motive. 意图可以用直接法确定, 比如雇主承认存在歧视, 这显然很罕见, 或者非常有力的间接证据, 哪些可以与其他个体进行比较.
The indirect method involves a process of shifting burdens set by the 1973 U.S. 最高法院案件 麦道公司. v. 绿色. 墨菲解释说，在 麦道公司 测试, the plaintiff must establish before a judge (not jury) a prima facie case by a preponderance of evidence, which includes the plaintiff’s being in a protected class and having suffered an adverse employment action, 比如没有被录用或者晋升被拒绝. The employer then must rebut by articulating a legitimate reason for adverse action. The plaintiff then has the burden to show that the employer’s reason was a pretext motivated by discrimination. If the plaintiff prevails, the case goes to a jury to decide if employment discrimination occurred.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 qualified that discrimination based on membership in a protected class need not be the sole factor for finding discrimination, 但成为一个激励因素就足够了.
卡拉·布朗，Charlson Bredehoft Cohen Brown澳博app事务所的原告澳博app & Nadelhaft P.C., 在莱斯顿, 维吉尼亚州, explained that an employee can prevail in a 报复 case even if harassment assertions are unproven. 布朗指出，如果, pursuant to a harassment charge the employee suffered a tangible effect, 比如扣薪, a strict liability standard for the employer applies and extra procedural inquiries are not necessary.
在性骚扰问题上，布朗讨论了具有里程碑意义的1986年美国宪法.S. 最高法院案件 美利达储蓄银行诉. 文森, which affirmed that sexual harassment is a violation of Title VII and that sexual harassment encompasses a hostile work environment, 不仅仅是不利的雇佣行为. 此外, the Court found that determining harassment turns not on whether sexual conduct between an employer and employee is voluntary but whether it is welcome.
Brown also discussed the prima facie harassment standard of being severe or pervasive. Some states now offer an alternative standard of looking at the totality of circumstances, 马里兰州也是如此, 但不是哥伦比亚特区.
“Maryland is 测试ament to the fact that there is a growing trend to provide workers greater protection by not just teasing out and isolating the actual incidents that happened, but looking at the bigger picture of everything that was happening for the worker at the time period,布朗说.
残疾的考虑
转向《澳博app下载网》(ADA), 最初于1990年通过成为法律，并于2008年进行了重大修订, 赫尔佐格说，《澳博app下载网》的保护范围是两倍的. 第一部分是对经典歧视的保护, 比如不因残疾而雇用或解雇某人.
“《澳博app下载网》还有一些非常独特的东西, 未能适应, 根据《澳博app下载网》，雇主有肯定义务,赫尔佐格解释道. “他们必须在需要时为员工提供住宿.他补充说，与其他法律一样，《澳博app下载网》也有报复保护. 例如, if an employer has reasonable justification for not granting an employee’s 残疾 accommodation request, 提出请求的员工受到保护，不会受到报复.
The 2008 amendments expanded the definition of 残疾 to include conditions such as diabetes and major depressive disorder. 根据赫尔佐格的说法, the 2008 act was a substantial overhaul that “makes it easier to prove one of these 残疾 cases.”
Herzog also pointed out that parallel laws in states and jurisdictions fill in ADA gaps, one being that the ADA is applicable to employers with a minimum of 15 employees. The variations in state law also mean that practitioners have different venue and argument options, 赫尔佐格说.
结束她关于骚扰的演讲, Brown pointed out that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released “工作场所骚扰执法指引四月里, supplementing its pivotal 2016 report on reporting of harassment and on harassment prevention. 值得注意的是，2024年平等就业机会委员会的报告纳入了2020年美国就业机会委员会的报告.S. 最高法院的判决 博斯托克v. 克莱顿县，乔治亚州 保护同性恋和变性员工不受职场歧视. The new report also consolidates the agency’s five guidance documents issued between 1987 and 1999, 布朗说这很有帮助.
“The EEOC is so proactive now and really thinking through what would help get justice in these cases. 他们提起了很多诉讼。. “They are doing really meaningful work that is probably going to make a dent on the workplace moving forward. 他们既遵守法律，又说到做到——两者兼而有之.”
