Legal Alert: “No Contest”: Supreme Court Finds Title VII Protects LGBTQ Individuals From Workplace Discrimination

This legal alert was published on June 15th, 2020 by J. Randall Coffey in Kansas City, David Klass in Charlotte, Megan Walker in San Diego, and Sarah Weiseltheir in New York and New Jersey.

 

In a 6-to-3 vote on June 15th, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workplace discrimination because of an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity — including being transgender — is unlawful discrimination “because of sex” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The basis for the Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County was summarized by Justice Gorsuch in his majority opinion: “An individual’s homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions. That’s because it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.” What do employers need to know about this historic decision?