Image from Shutterstock. An en banc federal appeals court on Friday lowered the bar for workplace discrimination claims based on job transfers that are forced or rejected. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that employees can sue under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act when job transfers are made or denied because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The appeals court overruled its prior precedent that said employees can’t sue over job transfers unless they suffered “objectively tangible harm.” The prior case, Brown v. Brody , is inconsistent with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and its holding has been eroded by subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, the D.C. Circuit said. The ruling creates a circuit split, according to Law.com and Reuters , which had coverage of the decision. The June 3 decision credits two judges as authors of the majority opinion: Judges David S. Tatel and Douglas H. Ginsburg. Their opinion was joined in full by five other judges. The court ruled for Mary Chambers, who worked in the District of Columbia’s Office of the Attorney General for more than 20 years. At first, she worked as a […]
