As Justice Kagan has famously declared: “We are all textualists now.” But textualism, while purporting to be the ultimate in objectivity and impartiality, is actually anything but evenhanded. In the hands of its fiercest proponents—namely those on the conservative side of the judicial spectrum—it means different things in different cases and for different people and […]

A ground-breaking lawsuit against Cisco tests this novel question. On June 30, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of a Dalit Indian (“untouchable” caste) engineer who alleges that he was discriminated against by high-caste Indian supervisors and coworkers.[1] The suit alleges that Cisco management […]

Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia has rightly been heralded as a true milestone for LGBTQ rights, including by my colleague Alok Nadig, who describes the decision here. Bostock brings LGBT Americans into the fold of Title VII’s protections against discrimination “because of sex” and has important ramifications with regard to other federal laws adopting similarly-worded […]

In this cultural moment, the conversation surrounding reparations for American’s cardinal sin of slavery, segregation, and racial oppression will likely gain momentum. It is about time for this issue to become of part of mainstream social and political discourse and for significant progress to be made. The case for reparations has been laid out here, […]

At Sanford Heisler Sharp, we are committed to the bedrock principle of equal justice under law.  We support and stand behind peaceful protests to bring about long-needed societal reform, take on systemic racism, and make our world a better place for everyone. In the familiar words of Dr. King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to […]

In cases against private employers under the Age Discrimination of Employment Act (ADEA), employees must establish traditional “but for” causation. See Gross v. FBL Fin. Servs., 557 U.S. 167 (2009). This basically means that the termination or other adverse action at issue would not have happened without the unlawful discriminatory motive. This standard is grounded in […]

Click here to read the Chinese version of this post We are largely in uncharted territory, but the answer may depend on factors such as the severity of the crisis in your location, what kinds of orders and directives (e.g. a stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order) are in effect where you live and work, the state […]

You can learn a lot from a sports blog.  Including, oddly enough, the purposes of class action lawsuits. Last month, while browsing the latest news on one of my favorite sports teams, I unexpectedly came across a dialogue on the NHL concussions lawsuit and settlement. See NHL Players Concussion Injury Litig., No. 14-md-2551 (D. Minn.), […]

Congress initially enacted the protections of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. The act was passed between the ratification of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. In relevant part, the current act provides: (a) Statement of equal […]

Most, if not all, states have insurance fraud prevention statutes designed to punish those who defraud private insurers. California, however, has enacted a law that takes insurance fraud prevention a step further. The California Insurance Frauds Prevention Act (“IFPA”) contains qui tam provisions that allow individuals or entities, known as relators: i) to blow the […]

The short answer is quite possibly. In many cases, law partners may be regarded as “employees” under Title VII, the Equal Pay Act (EPA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and other laws – and therefore eligible to sue their firms for employment discrimination, retaliation, and similar unlawful treatment. The issue of whether a […]