In a stunning twist, the en banc Fifth Circuit on Friday reset the clock on longstanding legal interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This significant move widens the potential scope of discrimination claims and unravels decades of precedent which confined such claims to “ultimate employment decisions.”
Fifth Circuit Title VII : The Roots of the Change
Previous legal benchmarks held that Title VII claims were restricted to concrete “ultimate employment decisions,” such as those tethered to hiring processes, terminations, compensation structures, or leaves.
The Fifth Circuit emphasized, with a hint of perplexity, that this narrowing phrase “finds no shelter in the statute itself.” In a bold challenge to prior judgments, the court stated that this interpretation has long “silenced genuine workplace bias grievances.”
What This Means for Employees
Now, rather than navigating a labyrinth of legal technicalities, employees and job aspirants merely need to illustrate the bias they faced “due to a protected trait,” relating to a broad range of employment dimensions.
