The Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Sixth Circuit’s “background circumstances” rule, which had required majority-group employees to provide extra evidence of employer discrimination to succeed in discrimination claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ruling means that, going forward, majority-group discrimination claims (or so-called reverse discrimination claims) will be analyzed using the same framework as minority-group discrimination claims, where plaintiffs can rely on their own circumstances to prove a prima facie case.
The background circumstances rule “cannot be squared with the text of Title VII or the Court’s precedents,” the Supreme Court stated.
This decision comes against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders to stop “illegal” workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and reshape how federal policy defines sex discrimination and gender.
Background
The plaintiff in this case is a heterosexual woman who was employed by the Ohio Department of Youth Services. She applied for and interviewed for a promotion, but the department instead offered her another job that amounted to a demotion with lower pay—which she took. The department later hired a gay man to serve in her prior role and promoted a lesbian woman to the position she had sought. The plaintiff alleged employment discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation under Title VII.
The district court granted summary judgment for...
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