Supreme Court rules on reverse discrimination, ADA, and trans rights

As the Supreme Court nears the end of another term, it has issued several rulings with important implications for employers in cases involving Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and transgender discrimination. 

Reverse discrimination burden of proof

An issue that has divided the country—whether the standards of proof are the same in reverse discrimination cases as in all others—also divided the courts. Some appeals courts have ruled all employees must meet the same burdens of proof, but some imposed a higher standard on members of a majority group, largely because it was the “unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.”

Writing for a unanimous Court in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson held: “Title VII’s disparate-treatment provision draws no distinctions between majority-group [employees] and minority-group [employees].” As a result, going forward, no employee alleging employment discrimination under Title VII can be held to a different, heightened evidentiary standard because they belong to a majority group.

‘Background circumstances’  struck down

In an issue suffused with race, Ames involved a heterosexual woman who alleged that her employer denied her a promotion because of her sexual orientation, selecting a gay candidate instead.