Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Tim Garrett was quoted in a piece published in Business Insurance discussing the Supreme Court’s review of three cases related to sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Two of the cases, Melissa Zarda et al. v. Altitude Express and Gerald Lynn Bostock V. Clayton County, will be heard together. Both cases include employees contending they were fired from their jobs due to their sexual orientation.
The third case, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, will be heard separately. In that case, the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati ruled in favor of a transgender worker who was fired when she told her funeral home employer she was undergoing a gender transition from male to female.
“My prediction is that the court will find that Title VII does not extend to sexual orientation or gender identity,” but that there will be a call for Congress to deal with the issue, although attempts over the years “have never really gotten any legs to do it through a legislative remedy,” said Tim.
The full article, “No Consensus Seen for High Court Ruling on LGBT Protections,” was published by Business Insurance on April 30, 2019, and is available online.