An employer establishes a weekend work policy where only male employees can take both days off, and female employees can only take one weekend day off. Sounds like gender discrimination maybe? Well, in Hamilton, et al. v. Dallas County, dba Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, the Fifth Circuit recently declined to go that far — yet. The judges pointed to circuit precedent and “the rule of orderliness” to uphold the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims. However, the opinion also hints that this may not be the end of the story.
In 2019, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department changed its scheduling procedure from being based on seniority to being based on gender. Under the new procedure, only male officers could take full weekends off, while female officers were only allowed to take off either two weekdays or one weekend day and one weekday. When female officers asked why there was a difference, the sergeant stated that it was based on gender and that it would be safer for the male officers to be off during the weekends as opposed to during the week. Not surprisingly, women officers filed an EEOC charge and later a lawsuit against the department for gender discrimination under Title VII.
The Sheriff’s Department moved to dismiss the complaint stating that the plaintiffs had failed to meet their burden of showing a final, adverse employment action. The district court acknowledged that the policy...
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