Discrimination

Though not called "ministers" and though lacking as rigorous a religious education, teachers at a Catholic or other religious school, whose duties include educating students in the tenets of their religious faith fall within the "ministerial exception," based on the First Amendment, which prevents courts from adjudicating wrongful termination or employment discrimination claims brought by employees of religious institutions whose… Read More

First Amendment’s ministerial exception barred seminary dean-plaintiff’s claims for defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, but not breach of contract, since the latter is a matter of compliance with a faculty handbook and hence does not turn on an ecclesiastical inquiry or excessively entangle the court in religious matters. Read More

Under the 2008 amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is no longer necessary for an employee to show that his perceived disability limited or was perceived to limit a major life activity in order to show evidence of “disability”; all that the employee need plead or prove is that the employer regarded him as physically or mentally impaired. Read More

Administrative law judge’s decision finding cause for community college employee’s termination collaterally estopped employee’s later suit for discrimination, insofar as that suit sought to challenge ALJ’s finding that employer had a non-discriminatory reason for the termination. Read More

Summary judgment was improperly granted on plaintiff’s FEHA pregnancy discrimination claim; she did not need to show she had submitted a job application; it was enough to show that the employer’s discriminatory conduct deterred her from applying. Read More

An employer may not defend an Equal Pay Act claim by showing that pay disparities are based on differences in the workers’ wages at prior jobs. Read More

A narrower state law does not preempt San Francisco’s ordinance more broadly prohibiting landlords from discriminating against prospective tenants based on their receiving government assistance to pay rent. Read More

Plaintiff could not state a viable employment discrimination claim based on her supervisor’s actions favoring his co-employee wife, but plaintiff could state a viable whistleblower claim based on the supervisor’s retaliation for her complaining about his favoritism. Read More

While a police department could not legally discriminate against its employee police officers based on their ethnicity, it could legally take adverse employment action against them based on the race of the man they shot.   Read More

Plaintiff, who was fired when his wife complained to his boss (who was also her mother) that plaintiff was armed, angry and on drugs, failed to state an actionable claim for discrimination based on marital status.   Read More