Discrimination - The Indiana Lawyer

Civil rights pioneer seeks expungement of ’55 arrest record

October 26, 2021 | Associated Press

Months before Rosa Parks became the mother of the modern civil rights movement by refusing to move to the back of a segregated Alabama bus, Black teenager Claudette Colvin did the same. Convicted of assaulting a police officer while being arrested, she was placed on probation yet never received notice that she’d finished the term and was on safe ground legally. Now 82 and slowed by age, Colvin is asking a judge to end the matter once and for all.

School district, psychologist win partial motions to dismiss in special ed discrimination suit

October 15, 2021 | Olivia Covington

A northern Indiana school district and its contract psychologist have secured partial victories in a lawsuit brought by the mother of a child with special needs who alleged her child was not given proper educational services.

Lawsuit alleges Old National Bank redlined against Blacks in Indianapolis

October 7, 2021 | Marilyn Odendahl

Old National Bank, headquartered in Evansville, has been accused in a federal lawsuit of redlining in the Indianapolis area by making disproportionally fewer mortgages to Blacks, closing branches in predominately Black neighborhoods, and providing Blacks with less information during the mortgage application process.

Notre Dame swim coach resigns 1 week after lawsuit dismissed

October 6, 2021 | Associated Press

Notre Dame’s head swimming coach has resigned one week after a federal judge dismissed a gender discrimination lawsuit that had accused him of degrading and demoting a female assistant because of her pregnancy.

Purdue wins judgment on wage discrimination claims but allegations of FMLA, FSLA violations can proceed

September 3, 2021 | Olivia Covington

Purdue University and a group of its employees have secured victory on a terminated worker’s wage discrimination claims. However, the former employee’s claims alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Family and Medical Leave Act by her Purdue supervisors can proceed.

Lawsuit accuses Lilly of favoring millennials over older job applicants

September 2, 2021 | John Russell, Indianapolis Business Journal

Eli Lilly and Co. refuses to interview and hire older workers, systematically favoring recent college graduates and other younger applicants, a new lawsuit alleges.

Senators question DOJ funding for AI-powered policing tech

August 24, 2021 | Associated Press

A Democratic senator said the U.S. Justice Department needs to look into whether the algorithm-powered police technologies it funds contribute to racial bias in law enforcement and lead to wrongful arrests.

Fired Roncalli counselor Starkey appeal brings ‘ministerial exception’ back to 7th Circuit

August 19, 2021 | Marilyn Odendahl

Lynn Starkey, the long-time educator fired from Roncalli High School for being married to a woman, is appealing a decision from the Southern Indiana District Court that is potentially the first to extend the “ministerial exception” to cover school guidance counselors.

Pettygrove: Challenges with critical race theory in workplace training

August 18, 2021 | Joseph Pettygrove

Recent media reports have reflected an increasing trend of employers providing some form of critical race theory training in the workplace. CRT-focused trainings raise legal and practical issues in the employment context.

Union Gospel Mission seeks high court ruling on hiring case

August 4, 2021 | Associated Press

Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission filed a petition Monday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide a case in which the Washington Supreme Court ruled in favor of a bisexual lawyer who sued the mission over its anti-LGBTQ hiring policy.

Lake Co. dad gets new trial after potential landlord denies rental because of kids

July 28, 2021 | Katie Stancombe

A new trial has been ordered for a Lake County father who was refused a rental home after telling the owner that he had children.

Man pleads guilty to 4 Asian spa killings, sentenced to life

July 27, 2021 | Associated Press

A man accused of killing eight people, most of them women of Asian descent, at Atlanta-area massage businesses pleaded guilty Tuesday to four of the murders and was handed four sentences of life without parole.

7th Circuit says Archdiocese premature in seeking dismissal of Roncalli counselor case

July 23, 2021 | Marilyn Odendahl

The 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed an appeal in the lawsuit brought by former Roncalli High School counselor Lynn Starkey, saying the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ turn to the appellate court was premature.

7th Circuit ruling expands ministerial exception, potentially impacting Indiana high school cases

July 21, 2021 | Marilyn Odendahl

Shelly Fitzgerald and Lynn Starkey, former guidance counselors at Roncalli High School, and Joshua Payne-Elliott, a former foreign language and social studies teacher at Cathedral High School, all filed separate lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis after they were all terminated from their jobs because they are in same-sex marriages. This month’s decision from the 7th Circuit in Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, 19-2142, could change the trajectory of each of those cases.

Ex-music teacher who refused to follow Brownsburg Schools’ transgender name policy loses on religious discrimination claims

July 13, 2021 | Katie Stancombe

A former Brownsburg music teacher who resigned after refusing to abide by a school policy on how to address transgender students has lost his bid for partial summary judge on his religious discrimination claims against the school district.

Justices turn away florist who refused same-sex wedding job

July 2, 2021 | Associated Press

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to take up the case of a florist who refused to provide services for a same-sex wedding, leaving in place a decision that she broke state anti-discrimination laws.

Former Eli Lilly lobbyist drops sex discrimination lawsuit

June 30, 2021 | John Russell, Indianapolis Business Journal

A former Washington, D.C., lobbyist for Eli Lilly and Co. has dropped her complaint against the Indianapolis-based drugmaker, in which she had claimed a top executive made sexist comments about her, mocked her physical appearance and subjected her and other women to a hostile work environment.

Judge rejects Chauvin’s request for new trial in Floyd death

June 25, 2021 | Associated Press

A judge has rejected former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin’s request for a new trial in George Floyd’s death.

Chauvin could face decadeslong sentence in Floyd’s death

June 25, 2021 | Associated Press

Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin learns his sentence Friday for murder in George Floyd’s death, closing a chapter in a case that sparked global outrage and a reckoning on racial disparities in America.

Geologist loses second wrongful-termination lawsuit against INDOT

June 24, 2021 | Marilyn Odendahl

A geologist who tried to detour around the summary judgment granted to the Indiana Department of Transportation in his wrongful-termination lawsuit was blocked by 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals, which found he was trying to take a road he had already traveled.

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