High Court Rules Workers May Sue For Third–Party Retaliation Under Title VII
Ogletree Deakins
Jan. 24, 2011
This morning, with Justice Antonin Scalia writing an opinion supported by eight justices, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employee who was fired shortly after his fiancée filed a bias charge against her employer may sue under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for third-party retaliation. According to the high court, the employee could be considered an “aggrieved person” under Title VII because he was “well within the zone of interests sought to be protected by Title VII.” Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP, No. 09–291, U.S. Supreme Court (January 24, 2011).
Factual Background
Eric Thompson and his fiancée, Miriam Regalado, were employees of North American Stainless, LP (NAS). Three weeks after Regalado filed a sex discrimination charge against NAS with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the company fired Thompson.
Thompson filed suit against NAS under Title VII claiming that the company fired him to retaliate against Regalado for filing her EEOC charge. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky granted summary judgment in favor of NAS. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, but later affirmed, reasoning that because Thompson did not engage in a statutorily protected activity he was not “in the class of persons for whom Congress created a retaliation cause of action.”
The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The Justices considered two issues: (1) Did NAS’s firing of Thompson constitute unlawful retaliation? (2) If so, does Title VII grant Thompson a cause of action?
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