The court said members of the majority group do not face any extra hurdles when arguing “reverse discrimination” in the workplace.
Straight woman and the Supreme Court in “Reverse Discrimination” case
The Supreme Court made a unanimous decision after siding alongside a woman who claimed she would not be in the job and was demoted for being straight.
Scripps News
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed on June 5 that it faced a higher hurdle to sue employers as straight women than if workers were gay.
An unanimous decision that lands amidst the national backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs could spark a wave of “reverse discrimination” lawsuits.
The judge rejected a lower court’s ruling that Marlene Ames was unable to sue the Ohio Department of Youth Services.
This is a test created in 1981 by federal courts of appeals, which many federal courts used in evaluating claims filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1981, a US Court of Appeals said that white people are subject to civil rights laws but suggested that black employees justify advertising for the White Joint Occupational Association.
However, the law itself prohibiting discrimination based on “racial, color, religion, gender, or country of origin” does not set different thresholds for members of minority and majority groups.
Scotus’ ruling on “reverse discrimination” civil rights lawsuit
Supreme Court judges questioned whether additional hurdles were needed for people from “majority backgrounds” to prove discrimination.
The Supreme Court said that the “rules of background situations” cannot be rectified with the text of the law or with the court’s previous judgment.
“And Ohio has never said that in its brief or verbal arguments it would otherwise be persuading us,” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote to the court.
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Ames’ attorney told the judicial authorities that if she was gay at this stage of the lawsuit and the employee who got the job she wanted was straight, her case would not have been fired at this stage of the lawsuit.
“We are delighted that the court has seen our path,” Ames’ attorney Edward Gilbert said after Thursday’s ruling.
During court debate over the February case, the Ohio Attorney General did not defend the Cincinnati-based 6.th The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals used when it rejected Ames’ case due to insufficient “background situation.” However, lawyer T. Elliot Geyser argued that Ames was unable to provide sufficient evidence that her sexual orientation played a role in the employment decision she suspected.
Ames lost two jobs to other candidates she thought was gay at the Ohio Department of Youth Services.
The department said she was taken over for promotion, not because she was upright, but because she lacked the necessary vision and leadership skills.
Authorities said she was subsequently demoted from her manager’s position as she did not bring a positive approach to the department’s emphasis on combating sexual violence in the juvenile correction system.
Amexv. The Supreme Court’s decision at OhioYouth Services Department does not settle Ames’ discrimination claims, but revives only additional court proceedings.
Dominique Binkley, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, said the state will continue to insist that the department did not discriminate against Ames.
Evan Parness, an employment law expert at Covington & Burling, said more “reverse discrimination” lawsuits could clear the initial hurdle. However, employers can stop cases from coming to trial by demonstrating that the dispute was committed on legitimate and non-discriminatory grounds.
Contribution: Reuters
(This story has been updated to include new videos.)
