After an executive order by President Biden, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will consider sexual orientation and gender identity as protected from discrimination in housing. This also follows a Supreme Court ruling establishing that the Civil...
San Francisco Education Law Blog
EEOC finds evidence of systemic age discrimination at IBM
It wouldn’t be the first time a big tech company thought it would have a better image if it hired younger workers. It wouldn’t be the first time a company tried to save money by shedding expensive older workers and replacing them with younger, cheaper ones....
Report: Many more students receive failing grades during pandemic
How important is in-person instruction to a child’s school success? The coronavirus pandemic is giving unique insights into the process of learning. Even as schools and the community struggle to decide the right way to deal with the threat of illness, new information...
Can men be fired for taking paternity leave?
Generally, the answer would seem to be no. However, a recent case cast some doubt on that. Earlier this year, Steven van Soeren, a product designer for Disney, was fired shortly after he took two weeks of paternity leave. Citing examples of anti-parent bias, van...
What is ‘force majeure’ in contracts?
“Force majeure” is a term a lot of people have heard in relation to the pandemic. Roughly meaning “superior force,” the term excuses performance of the contract if unforeseeable circumstances make it truly impossible to perform. A force majeure clause could come in...
Court: Harvard’s affirmative-action doesn’t illegally discriminate
In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that universities cannot use race as the determining factor in admissions. In that case, declined students argued that the University of Michigan illegally relied upon race in its admissions process. As evidence, the students...
What are some signs of national origin discrimination?
People from other nations are welcome to work legally in the United States. Nevertheless, some people face job discrimination or harassment based on their national origin or ethnic group. This is illegal. What does national origin discrimination look like? There are...
Does relying on consumer surveys lead to workplace discrimination?
When companies rely on customer satisfaction surveys to evaluate their workers, it can lead to discrimination. This is because consumers’ ratings are often infected by racism, ageism, sexism or anti-disability bias. A recent lawsuit argues that Uber’s use of its...
Judge: UC system cannot use test-optional admissions policy
In May, the University of California Board of Regents voted to drop the SAT/ACT testing requirement for admissions. That policy goes into effect in 2023. However, in the meantime, the regents gave campuses the option of considering SAT and ACT tests as they...
California gig economy worker? You may be an employee
If you drive with Uber, Lyft or another “gig economy” company, you may not be an independent contractor. Instead, you may legally be an employee of the company you’ve been working with. A California superior court judge has ruled that the contract drivers for Uber and...