Latest news with #workplacediscrimination
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Landmark Supreme Court ruling sides with Marlean Ames, a straight woman who was 'passed over' for jobs for gay colleagues
The Supreme Court has sided with a straight woman who alleged that she was passed over for positions that went to her gay colleagues. Marlean Ames said she was the victim of bias in an agency overseeing Ohio 's youth correctional facilities, with her case being decided in a rare unanimous ruling as all justices agreed. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who wrote the opinion for the court, agreed that a ruling used in almost half the nation's federal circuits that forced people who are not white, male or gay to meet a higher bar to prove workplace discrimination. Brown wrote that it was unconstitutional for courts to have different standards for different groups, and said ' Congress left no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority-group plaintiffs alone.'
BBC News
29-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Rise in help offered for discrimination at work in Guernsey
Requests for help dealing with workplace discrimination have trebled in the last year, according to a charity offering advice and support to people in Advice Guernsey's latest report to the States showed the number of people asking for help had risen to 116 in 2024, up from 36, in preventing discrimination on the grounds of disability, carer status, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation came into force in September Ashmead, the charity's deputy chief executive, told BBC Radio Guernsey the legislation prompted people to come forward. Ms Ashmead said: "It's because now there are protections in place so people have legislation that can protect them."Obviously, it is always hoped that once the issue has been highlighted that, through negotiation with their employer, the problem can be resolved without it necessarily needing to go further down the line."The report also noted cases of discrimination outside of the workplace had risen from 36 to 73 in the last the island's population of more than 25,000, the charity said it was contacted by just under 3,000 people in 2024 who were looking for advice on things such as housing, finances and employment. Ms Ashmead said some of their clients "are working members of society who are struggling and are facing having to go to food banks and facing debt so these things do need to be addressed".She said housing was one of the main issues people contacted them about, "particularly the lack of access to affordable housing and the increasing rents". "People may not be able to afford the new rent and there is nowhere else for them to go, so it can be a real real problem," she said. 'Increasingly complex problems' The charity said its report provided an "interesting barometer" of the social issues concerning data also highlighted a further decline in the number of people using its service for debt and money problems, falling from 1,168 to 833 in the same Ashmead said: "The problem is still there but we have had fewer inquiries about it."Even if the statistics themselves may appear quite small compared to the number of people in Guernsey... they are still people and they are part of our community and we need to make sure that everyone is looked after well."Ms Ashmead said the charity was now spending an average of around 10 to 15 minutes more with each client due to their "increasingly complex problems".
New York Times
27-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Trump Administration Tells State Regulators It Won't Back Some Discrimination Claims
The Trump administration is making it harder for state and local agencies to enforce certain workplace discrimination laws, another step in its efforts to strip away longstanding civil rights protections for minority groups. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the nation's primary regulator of workplace discrimination, pays state and local civil rights agencies to process and investigate many discrimination claims under work-sharing agreements. But in a memo sent to those agencies last week, the E.E.O.C. said it would stop paying them for claims involving transgender workers or those based on what is known as disparate impact, which relies on statistical outcomes to prove discrimination. The memo, which was viewed by The New York Times, said the policy was retroactive to Jan. 20, when Mr. Trump took office. That loss of federal resources will make it harder for state and local agencies to investigate these claims. Legal experts say the policy is likely to be challenged in courts and fits into the Trump administration's efforts to chip away at civil rights law. 'They are consistently eroding the protections from the 1964 Civil Rights Act and other foundational civil rights laws in this country, and undermining the rights of particular communities,' said Maya Raghu, a director at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an advocacy group. The E.E.O.C. declined to comment on the memo, which was dated May 20. While presidents do not have the authority to unilaterally change civil rights laws, the Trump administration has used executive orders to chart a new path on enforcement. The memo said the directive to state and local agencies was consistent with two of Mr. Trump's executive orders — one that asserted that the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female; and another that ordered federal agencies to halt their use of 'disparate-impact liability.' In workplace discrimination cases, disparate-impact tests are used to determine whether an employer's policy that appears neutral on its face disadvantages a particular group of people. Legal experts say that the test is one of the most critical tools for prosecuting civil rights discrimination. 'Disparate-impact theory is a really important mechanism for rooting out discrimination and inequality,' said Stacy Hawkins, a professor at Rutgers Law School who specializes in employment law. The E.E.O.C. has emerged as a key enforcer of President Trump's agenda. Under Andrea Lucas, the acting chair who was appointed by Mr. Trump, the agency has already dismissed discrimination cases it previously filed on behalf of transgender employees, and it has investigated law firms for their D.E.I. policies. The E.E.O.C. allocated $31.5 million to state and local civil rights agencies last year. Those agencies help process about two-thirds of the tens of thousands of discrimination claims the E.E.O.C. receives each year. State and city agencies are still required by local laws to enforce claims based on transgender discrimination or disparate impact, but those who rely on the E.E.O.C. for a significant portion of their budgets, the policy change will hinder the ability to fully process or investigate these claims. The Maine Human Rights Commission, for example, receives nearly a third of its funding from the E.E.O.C., according to a spokesperson. For bigger states, the percentage of funding tends to be smaller. New York and California receive roughly 5 percent of their funding from the E.E.O.C., according to officials from those states' agencies. 'We are deeply disappointed that the E.E.O.C. has decided that it will no longer support investigations of claims involving discrimination based on gender-identity and disparate-impact discrimination,' New Jersey's attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, a Democrat, said in an emailed statement. The E.E.O.C., established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to enforce anti-discrimination laws, has a long history of bringing claims based on disparate impact, even under the first Trump administration. In 2018, the agency secured a $3.2 million settlement from the railroad company CSX Transportation over strength tests it required as part of its job applications, which the agency said ended up disproportionately excluding women, a protected class under civil rights law. In 2012, the E.E.O.C. began processing complaints of gender-identity and sexual orientation discrimination. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that gay and transgender employees were protected against discrimination under the landmark civil rights law. Since that ruling, the agency has processed thousands of such cases including 3,000 last year. Because of the agency's new policy, the number of such cases that lead to investigations is likely to shrink drastically. Jocelyn Samuels, who was a Democratic commissioner at the agency until Mr. Trump fired her a few days into his second term, said she worried that the E.E.O.C's memo signaled to state and local agencies that they should prioritize the president's executive orders over the Civil Rights Act. The result may lead local agencies 'to de-emphasize or ignore' cases claiming gender-identity or disparate-impact discrimination. Such an outcome, Ms. Samuels added, would deprive people of the 'tools that the government can bring to bear in enforcing the law and vindicating their rights.'
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Washington law keeps identifying information of whistleblowers private following investigation into Spokane Valley councilman
May 18—OLYMPIA — Washington lawmakers amended public disclosure law this year to require identifying information of accusers, complainants and witnesses in workplace discrimination or harassment cases be kept private and their voices altered in audio recordings. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Rob Chase, R-Spokane Valley, and signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson on Thursday, was written in response to what some Spokane Valley employees describe as targeted retaliation by City Councilman Al Merkel. Merkel has been bogged in controversy since taking office last year, largely due to a failure to get along with fellow council members and city staffers. Testy arguments have become a mainstay of council meetings as Merkel has repeatedly butted heads with the board and department heads over construction projects, grant applications and the complaints and investigations related to him. Last May, an independent investigator found Merkel repeatedly disrespected city staff, often engaging in "intimidating behavior." In one instance, he reportedly asked Mayor Pam Haley to stay after a council meeting to speak, and then stood between her and the door as he got in Haley's face and yelled at her, according to a city staffer who witnessed the event. Merkel has maintained the report cleared him of all "legal wrongdoing," apparently based on the investigator's determination that his behavior was the same towards city employees of all genders, ages and other protected classes. He argued city staff members did not like his "loud and direct" approach, that claims of harassment were "trumped up," and that his Latino heritage may contribute to how those in City Hall perceive him. City and board leaders say Merkel has continued to be disrespectful to staff following the investigation's findings, even after his office was moved from the dedicated office space for the council to the first floor of City Hall and the completion of a more than $40,000 remodel to the building to implement more separation and safety measures between Merkel and city staff. Merkel himself testified against the proposal as it worked through the Legislature. "Let's be real, this bill exists mainly to keep government actors from being held accountable," Merkel said. Merkle added that the city was attempting to silence him "because of the criticisms that I've laid at the city of Spokane Valley over tax waste." Merkel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new law Friday afternoon. As he testified before the House Government committee in February, Chase said the bill was "prompted by an incident, a specific situation that happened in the city of Spokane Valley." "My goal is to protect employees who are investigating workplace harassment," Chase said. Speaking before the Senate Government Committee, Chase said the bill "protects whistleblowers." "We need to have whistleblowers who go out on a limb to protect the Republic," Chase said. As he signed the legislation Thursday, Ferguson said the bill "prevents victims of workplace harassment from being revictimized by an abuser who may figure out their identity through a public records request." Ferguson noted that Washington has one of the strongest public records laws in the country, though there must be a balance "to make sure that we're protecting folks who are facing real challenges." "And their information should not be shared," Ferguson said. The bill exempts the redaction of names and job titles of elected officials. While the public records act previously required the names of complainants, accusers, and witnesses to be redacted, several Spokane Valley employees said that disclosing their contact information and job title made them easily identifiable in documents. "This is happening right now within the city of Spokane Valley," Spokane Valley City Attorney Kelly Konkright told the House government committee in February. He said a council member had used the Public Records Act "to target and publicly criticize city employees who honestly reported what they believed and witnessed was harassing behavior. This is discouraging the city's employees from reporting future misconduct." Stressing that she believes in open and transparent government, another public records employee told members of the committee that the city had received "many public records requests" from Merkel for all records related to an investigation into his conduct. "The council member, after receiving them, then posted comments and quotes from those interviews on social media, along with heckling the participants in those interviews," the employee said, adding that Merkel also posted the records on his campaign website with the identity of those interviewed, along with a review of the investigations. "It felt a lot like retaliation to those of us who had participated in interview processes, when it was never a political intent for us to go after this council member." The incident, the employee said, has left many city employees saying they will no longer come forward to testify in future investigations. Another city employee told the committee that the postings resulted in "distrust and resentment" toward Merkel. Candice Bock, director of government relations for the Association of Washington Cities, told the committee that the intent of the bill is to "make sure that the Public Records Act is not being used as a tool for retaliation against our folks who participate in an investigation." "The Public Records Act is to make sure that the public has access to our records," Brock said. "When we use it as a tool for retaliation, that creates a chilling effect on our employees and on our process." The bill passed in the Senate 48 to 1 and passed the House 92 to 5. It takes effect July 26. Editor's note: This article has been updated to correctly identify Spokane Valley City Attorney Kelly Konkright
