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A Thursday Supreme Court decision about workplace discrimination is expected to dramatically change employment law in the U.S. and will likely to make it easier for people to lodge discrimination claims against their organizations.
The court unanimously ruled that people who belong to majority groups, which would include white people or heterosexual people, do not need to show a higher standard of proof or “background circumstances” in order to sue their employers. Until now, some lower circuit courts placed a higher burden on these plaintiffs, requiring them to prove that their employer was unusual in its motives to discriminate against them.
The case was brought by Marlean Ames, a former government employee for the state of Ohio who sued her employer after she was passed over for promotions given to gay coworkers instead. Ames argued that she was sidelined because she was straight.
The court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act doesn’t specify between majority and minority groups, and that the burden of discrimination applied to all groups equally.
“The court essentially decided that discrimination is discrimination, and that all concerns around such should be taken seriously, and that means there being no higher burden, as a matter of law, to show it,” says Nonnie Shivers, employment and labor attorney and managing shareholder at firm Ogletree Deakins.
The court’s decision was expected, but legal experts say it will have major ramifications across the employment sphere, and will likely lead to an uptick in reverse discrimination cases.
“We should expect to see this trend continue, and see an uptick in these so-called reverse discrimination claims brought by men who are not members of historically disadvantaged groups,” Michael Steinberg, a labor and employment attorney at firm Seyfarth Shaw, tells Fortune. “Now they’ll be armed with the Ames case, which confirms that the same framework for discrimination applies to anyone.”
The court’s decision comes as diversity, equity and inclusion practices in corporate America are under increased attack. Over the past two years, many companies have rolled back their DEI practices following the Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action in colleges and universities. Although that decision did not apply to companies, it proved to be an inflection point around cultural attitudes towards DEI.
Over the past few months, the Trump administration in particular has taken aim at DEI in the workplace through a series of executive orders, forcing companies to reexamine their policies and decide whether or not they would stand by their previous efforts.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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https://fortune.com/2025/06/05/supreme-court-workplace-bias-reverse-discrimination-ames-vs-ohio/
Brit Morse
