US Supreme Court delays hearing on LGBT employees
The justices without comment or dissent declined to hear a
Georgia woman’s suit that alleged she was pushed out of her job as a hospital
security guard because she is a lesbian.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 says employers may not
discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion and nationality. And lower
courts have split recently over whether the ban on sex discrimination includes
discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Lawyers for Lambda Legal hoped the high court would hear the
case of Jameka K. Evans vs. Georgia Regional Hospital to resolve the dispute
and issue a ruling with nationwide impact. But the case had some procedural
flaws. Evans filed her original complaint without a lawyer and did not serve
papers on the hospital. As a result, the hospital said it would not participate
in the case.
Gregory Nevins, director of Lambda’s Employment Fairness
Project, said Monday’s court action was disappointing. “The Supreme Court is
delaying the inevitable and leaving a split in the circuits that will cause
confusion across the country,” he said. “But this was not a ‘no’ but a ‘not
yet.’ ” He was referring to the court’s rule that declining to hear an appeal
is not a decision.
But turning away the Evans case almost certainly means the
high court will not rule on the issue until 2019.
In April, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago
ruled Kimberly Hively could sue her employer under the federal civil rights law
for allegedly discriminating against her because she is a lesbian. Her
employer, Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, denied discriminating against
Hively but announced it “does not intend to seek Supreme Court review.”
In September, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court in New York heard
the case of a skydiving instructor who was fired after telling customers he was
gay. Don Zarda was killed in a 2014 diving accident, but his sister and his
life partner have carried on the suit in Zarda vs. Altitude Express.
The argument in that case featured not just a split on the
law, but a split between two federal agencies. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, which enforces the job bias laws, argued for extending the 1964 law
to forbid sexual orientation.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department led by the
Trump administration said the law did not apply to bias claims based on sexual
orientation.
Even if the New York court rules this month, the losing side
is not likely to appeal until early next year, too late for the Supreme Court
to take up the case this term.
The justices could agree to hear an appeal in
the fall of 2018 and issue a ruling in the first half of 2019
source: LA times
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