Dec 9, 2008

Comments Off

Tweet

Supreme Court Takes Key Discrimination Case

On Monday the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., a case which should settle a long-held debate over how so-called “mixed motive” claims are handled.

A little background: Congress passed a civil rights bill in 1991, conveniently titled “The Civil Rights Act of 1991,” which overturned some of the Supreme Court’s decisions relating to the way lawsuits are brought under Title VII of the earlier Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII is the main anti-discrimination law, protecting people because of color, race, gender, national origin or religion.

The problem this caused, which the Court will probably address in Gross, is that lower courts have limited the CRA’91 to Title VII, using the old rules for other anti-discrimination laws, like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), where the suits allege employers had “mixed motives” or partially legal and partially discriminatory reasons for firing the plaintiff/employee.

In other words, if you bring a lawsuit under Title VII, and you allege that your employer had mixed motives for firing you, you have to prove it differently than if you bring it under the ADA or ADEA. Seems like a very small thing outside of employment law circles, but since most cases are mixed motive, the Supreme Court’s decision could have very real, long-lasting effects.

Hat Tip: Workplace Prof Blog

More on Gross v. FBL @ Ross Runkel’s Law Memo