BREAKING: High Court Accepts Cases Over Whether Title VII Covers LGBT Bias
By Vin Gurrieri
Law360 (April 22, 2019, 9:43 AM EDT) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a trio of closely watched cases that hinge on whether gay and transgender workers are protected from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The high court granted petitions for certiorari in three cases — Altitude Express v. Zarda, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. EEOC — giving the justices a chance to settle hotly-debated questions about the scope of the cornerstone federal anti-bias statute.
The three cases each pose similar questions about the scope of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Zarda and Bostock ask the justices to decide whether the law’s existing ban on sex discrimination protects workers from bias based on their sexual orientation, and Harris Funeral Homes asks whether workers are protected from gender identity discrimination under the statute.
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In the Harris Funeral Homes case, the company and its owner are appealing a Sixth Circuit decision that Title VII does protect transgender people from discrimination. The appellate court’s decision led to the reopening of an EEOC suit challenging the company’s decision to fire worker Aimee Stephens after she told her boss she would transition to a female gender identity and wanted to dress in women’s clothing at work.
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And in the Harris Funeral Homes case, U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in October outlining the federal government’s position that gender identity isn’t covered under Title VII — a stance that directly contradicts the EEOC’s current position on the issue.
UPDATE:
The Harris Funeral Home case, one of three for which the Supreme Court has granted cert, is only being reviewed regarding the question of whether Title VII protects transgender people from sex discrimination. The question of religious freedom raised under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is not being reviewed. This leaves the Sixth Circuit decision in place regarding the argument that protection of the transgender employee violated religious freedom. The Sixth Circuit held that the employer's religious freedom was not violated. That portion of the Sixth Circuit ruling will remain in force.
