Employment Discrimination Law

This course will examine the many sources of local, state and federal law prohibiting employment discrimination with a focus on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, centering each class on a protected characteristic, such as race, religion, national origin, gender, disability, and others. The class will first cover characteristics historically protected and most frequently litigated, before exploring more recent developments in employment discrimination law, such as protections based on caregiver status, criminal history, victim status, and appearance, as well as the intersectionality of certain protected classifications and emerging trends in workplace discrimination issues and law.

The course will also explore the process involved when claims of employment discrimination are raised, investigated and litigated. Employment discrimination is a topic affecting every workplace, whether through preventative policies and efforts or when an employee believes their workplace opportunities have been compromised based on a protected classification. This course aims to train students to understand how employment discrimination can best be avoided, how to identify and address it when it occurs, and how to predict the likely outcome when such claims are litigated.