On Monday, June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in which it states that it is unlawful to fire and discriminate against a person’s race, religion, sex, national origin, also includes sexual orientation and gender identity. After a 6-3 decision, Justice Neil M. Gosuch finalized the majority opinion that the federal civil rights law protects all LGBTQ workers. An employer that fires their employee for being a part of LGBTQ is violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act which may lead to legal charges for employment discrimination. The Supreme Court acted after three separate incidents led to wrongful termination regarding sexual orientation/sex identification.
The first case was in 2013- a Georgia child welfare service coordinator, Gerald Bostock, was wrongfully terminated after his employer discovered that he joined a gay softball league. In 2010, Donald Zarda, a New York skydiving instructor was fired after a customer complained that Zarda came out as gay during a jump. The final case was in Michigan, which involved funeral director Aimee Stephens who was fired after embracing her identity at work as transgender in 2014.
According to UCLA’s William Institute, there are 1 million transgender workers and 7.1 million lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers in the US with California being on the Top 5.
Mesriani Law Group has experienced attorneys to help with employment discrimination throughout California. If you have been wrongfully laid off due to your sexual orientation, contact us for a free consultation. Mesriani Law Group has been successful in representing discrimination victims and obtaining top results.
