DEI Case Reaches American Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to rule in favour of an Ohio woman who claims she was discriminated against at work because she is straight. This will make it easier for people of "majority backgrounds" to pursue workplace discrimination claims in the future.

Marlean Ames claims she was not only denied a promotion but also demoted because she is heterosexual, and argues she was discriminated against in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law prohibits discrimination based on characteristics such as race, religion, national origin and sex - including sexual orientation. A Supreme Court ruling in her favour could bolster the growing number of lawsuits by White and straight workers claiming illegal bias, often called "reverse discrimination”.

This case surrounds the issue of the “background circumstances rule”, which instructs courts to sort individuals into majority and minority groups based on their race, sex, or protected characteristic, and then require majority groups to provide more evidence than minority plaintiffs of discrimination. The higher bar for majority groups has been argued to be fair because “reverse discrimination” is assumed to be unusual, but Ames’ counsel argues that this higher bar cripples the objective of Title VII and previous Supreme Court rulings to eradicate all discrimination in the workplace.

The question as to whether Ames has proven any level of discrimination is another issue, but the Supreme court’s ruling on the matter of the Background Circumstances rule appears to be favouring Ames, with judges on both sides of the aisle concluding that all Americans should be treated equally. “We’re in radical agreement today,” Justice Neil Gorsuch

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson suggested that the higher bar for majority litigants would impose too heavy a burden on plaintiffs at the initial stage of their legal proceeding, while Justice Elena Kagan is quoted as saying "The question presented is whether a majority group plaintiff has to show something more than a minority group plaintiff - here, whether a straight person has to show more than a gay person…. Everybody over here says, 'No.' You say, 'No,' too."

More on this story and its possible effects on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion here