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EEOC Appeals Walmart Pregnancy Bias Case To 7th Circ.
Law360 (April 20, 2021, 7:04 PM EDT) The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wants the Seventh Circuit to weigh in on its pregnancy bias suit against Walmart after a Wisconsin federal judge ruled that the retailer s policy giving some employees easier work wasn t discriminatory.
The EEOC filed the notice of appeal Tuesday after Walmart secured a win in mid-February when the parties filed dueling motions for summary judgment. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb found that the retailer s nationwide temporary light-duty policy for workers injured on the job didn t treat pregnant employees any worse than workers with nonoccupational injuries.
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Walmart Defeats EEOC s Pregnancy Discrimination Suit
Law360 (February 19, 2021, 8:28 PM EST) Walmart scored a win Friday in a pregnancy bias suit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, convincing a Wisconsin federal judge that a nationwide policy that gave some employees lighter workloads didn t intentionally discriminate against pregnant women.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb, responding to dueling summary judgment bids from Walmart and the EEOC, said the retail giant s temporary light-duty policy for workers injured on the job didn t treat pregnant employees any worse than employees with other nonoccupational ailments.
Neither of the latter groups was eligible for the light-duty exception because they hadn t sustained injuries at work, Judge Crabb held. Both.
Commentary By Hans Bader | January 29, 2021 | 10:54am EST
Lady Justice holds her scales. (Photo credit: LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)
Thanks to laws against hostile work environments, saying OK, boomer in the workplace can get you fired, notes human-resource professional Suzanne Lucas. That s because it expresses prejudice based on age, and thus contributes to a hostile environment for older workers. Under federal law, conduct is illegal when it creates a hostile or abusive working environment for people based on their age, race, sex, disability, or other protected characteristic.
A bill that is likely to become law in Virginia may expand this liability further. It would make employers liable for work environments that are hostile or offensive, based on age, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or marital status, defining that as workplace harassment.
Peter White Public Library staff
EDITOR’S NOTE: Superiorland Yesterdays is prepared by the reference staff at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette.
30 years ago
MADISON, Wis. U.S. Rep Robert Kasteameier’s election defeat last month may hurt efforts to allow cameras in federal courts, the State Bar of Wisconsin says. Kasteamier, D-Wis., was instrumental in winning approval of an experimental plan granting television cameras access to federal court proceedings in several states. Wisconsin is not among the states affected by the plan. Kasteamier, who is a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and a chairman of one of its subcommittees, was defeated Nov. 6 by Republican Scott Klug. He has held the seat since 1956. The plan was approved by the U.S. Judicial Conference headed by Supreme Court Justice William Rehinquist. It will allow broadcast and photographic access beginning in July to civic cases in the selected courts, but those Judges will have broad discretio