U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Reverse Discrimination Ruling

In 2020, contending she was passed over for a promotion in favor of a gay woman, Marlean Ames sued the Ohio Department of Youth Services for reverse discrimination. Ames said she was then demoted by her gay supervisor and received a pay cut. Then she was passed over again in favor of a gay man.

Her suit claims she was passed over for the promotion and demoted because she is heterosexual. Ames challenged a requirement used in some courts that majority plaintiffs have to show more evidence than a minority plaintiff to even make a discrimination claim.

Lower courts ruled in favor of her employer based on a 1973 ruling by the Supreme Court that listed strict rules for filing such suits. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals told Ames she didn’t provide enough background circumstances to show that a gay supervisor passed her over for gay employees.

The Supreme Court decision was 9-0 and the opinion was authored by liberal judge, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. She wrote that the language of 1973’s Title VII — and other precedents — make it clear there can be “no distinction” between majority-group and minority-group plaintiffs.

“By establishing the same protections for every ‘individual’ — without regard to that individual’s membership in a minority or majority group — Congress left no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority-group plaintiffs alone,” Jackson wrote.

Source link: Business Insurance — https://bit.ly/43BEIQo

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