Indiana shelves bill on requirements for ID gender change
Indiana lawmakers have shelved a bill that would have made it harder for residents to change their gender on driver’s licenses or state identification cards.
Discrimination
Articles
Justice Thomas talks at court arguments, 1st time in 3 years
The Supreme Court was about to adjourn for the day when the Georgia baritone politely inquired of the lawyer at the lectern. Justice Clarence Thomas was breaking a three-year silence at high court arguments with a couple of questions in a case about racial discrimination in the South.
Justices reject B&B owner who denied room to gay couple
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place Hawaii court rulings that found a bed and breakfast owner violated the state’s anti-discrimination law by refusing to rent a room to a lesbian couple. The justices rejected an appeal from Aloha Bed & Breakfast owner Phyllis Young, who argued she should be allowed to turn away gay couples because of her religious beliefs.
Indiana offers nonbinary gender option on licenses, IDs
Indiana residents who don’t identify as male or female have the option starting this month of describing themselves as a nonbinary gender on their driver’s licenses and state identification cards.
Supreme Court: Judges can’t rule from the grave
Federal judges can’t rule from the grave, the US Supreme Court held Monday, writing that a federal court can’t count the vote of a judge who died in a decision issued after the judge’s death. The justices said “federal judges are appointed for life, not for eternity.”
Senate Republicans strip hate crimes bill of victim categories
The Republican-majority Senate stripped a hate crimes bill Tuesday of language that specified the types of crimes it would apply to — those motivated by race, religion, sexual orientation, gender and other categories — despite emotional pleas by Democrats to leave the bill as written.
Judge allows ‘extremely narrow’ failure to accommodate claim to proceed against IPS
A disability discrimination claim brought against Indianapolis Public Schools by a former bus attendant who says the school district failed to accommodate her medical conditions will continue on “extremely narrow” grounds, a federal judge has ruled.
Nexlink must face fired worker’s sex harassment retaliation claim
Nexlink, a “solutions provider” for AT&T, has lost its bid for summary judgment and must face a former employee’s claims that she was terminated in fired for filing a sexual harassment complaint against a former supervisor when she previously worked at AT&T.
Connecticut man sues over job rejection due to medical marijuana
A Connecticut man whose bid to become a firefighter in the state’s largest city was rejected because he uses medical marijuana has sued.
IU student accused of sex misconduct denied injunction
A male student accused of sexual misconduct was denied a preliminary injunction to prevent Indiana University Bloomington from suspending him as a sanction from what he called a “fundamentally unfair disciplinary process.”
Ex-state employee loses disability discrimination appeal
A former of Department of Insurance employee fired after engaging in a verbal altercation and making crude comments about another employee has lost her disability-discrimination appeal before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge: State’s ‘bureaucratic quagmire’ harms disabled woman
The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration has 21 days to arrange home health care for an elderly woman with quadriplegia who has been confined to a hospital or nursing home since February 2016, a federal judge has ruled. The decision comes after the judge ruled previously that the FSSA’s failure to develop a home-based care plan violated the woman’s rights under three federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Female Gary principal loses sex discrimination appeal
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment to northern Indiana school corporation when it found a female principal was not discriminated against based on her sex when a male candidate got the job she applied for.
Records: $50K settled officer racial discrimination lawsuit
Records show a former West Terre Haute police officer who appealed his firing has accepted $50,000 to settle a 2015 federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination. Jonathan Stevens, who is black, signed an agreement in January 2017 to resolve the complaint he’d filed alleging the West Terre Haute Town Council and police chief conspired not to hire him because they allegedly said they didn’t want “his kind” working for the town.
IU Maurer professor under Title IX investigation
Associate law professor Ian Samuel, who joined the faculty at Indiana University Maurer School of Law this fall and is a co-host of the popular "First Mondays" podcast on the U.S. Supreme Court, is under investigation for alleged Title IX violations, according to Indiana University.
Discrimination, retaliation claims fail in 7th Circuit termination case
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court’s denial of a woman’s discrimination and retaliation claims against her prior employer, finding insufficient evidence to support her claim that she was terminated for taking medical leave.
Judge: Race, age discrimination claims against Amazon may proceed
An age and race discrimination case against online shopping giant Amazon will proceed after a district judge in Indianapolis partially declined to dismiss claims brought by a former employee.
Justices rule for firefighters claiming age discrimination
The Supreme Court has decided unanimously that local governments with small workforces must comply with a federal law against age discrimination.
Mom in wheelchair loses ADA access appeal against school district
A Warrick County woman who uses a wheelchair and was unable to attend her son’s school Christmas concert two years in a row lost her argument of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act after it was determined the concert was not provided by the school corporation.
Woman charged with leaving racist note on neighbor’s home
A central Indiana woman allegedly left a note on a neighbor’s home filled with racist slurs targeting the family’s black son and warning “this is a white neighborhood.”