{"id":109045,"date":"2025-02-26T18:03:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T18:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/woman-takes-reverse-discrimination-case-to-supreme-court-over-hiring-of-gay-co-workers\/"},"modified":"2025-02-26T18:03:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T18:03:32","slug":"woman-takes-reverse-discrimination-case-to-supreme-court-over-hiring-of-gay-co-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/woman-takes-reverse-discrimination-case-to-supreme-court-over-hiring-of-gay-co-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman takes ‘reverse’ discrimination case to Supreme Court over hiring of gay co-workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(WASHINGTON) — Marlean Ames had earned positive performance reviews for nearly 15 years in her job at the Ohio Department of Youth Services. But in 2019 when she applied for a promotion, she got passed over for the position and was subsequently demoted.<\/p>\n

A gay woman got the job she’d applied for, while a gay man was assigned the job she once had. Her supervisor at the time was also gay. Ames is a straight woman.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will take up Ames’ case of alleged “reverse discrimination” and her bid to revive a lawsuit against her employer under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

Lower courts dismissed Ames’ claim, ruling that she had failed to meet the standard of proof for discriminatory intent against a “member of a majority group.”<\/p>\n

The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Ames did not demonstrate “background circumstances to support the suspicion that the defendant is that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.”<\/p>\n

Ames argues that the “background circumstances” requirement — applied only to plaintiffs from majority groups, such as white and straight people — is an onerous burden that creates an unlevel playing field. She alleges circumstantial evidence alone in her case is enough to warrant a trial.<\/p>\n

“If Ames were gay and the employees hired in preference of her were not, she would have established the elements necessary for her prima-facie case,” her attorneys argued in briefs before the high court. “But because Ames falls on the majority group side of the majority\/minority fault line, she has no legal recourse.”<\/p>\n

Prima facie, Latin for “on the face of it,” is a legal term to indicate that there are sufficient facts to support a claim.<\/p>\n

Ohio argues that the “background circumstances” requirement is not an extra burden but rather a clarification of existing standards set by the US Supreme Court in 1973, equally applied to all.<\/p>\n

“That the specific facts that give rise to a suspicion of discrimination differ from plaintiff to plaintiff does not mean that some parties carry a heavier prima facie burden than others,” the state argues in its brief. “It just reflects that the precise requirements of a prima facie case can vary depending on the context.”<\/p>\n

In the case McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, the Court established a three-part test for determining employment discrimination under Title VII. First, a plaintiff must show a “prima facie case of discrimination;” if that’s met, an employer must provide some legitimate, nondiscriminatory explanation for the dispute; and then, the burden falls back on the plaintiff to prove that the reason is a “pretext” for discrimination.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court will decide whether the “background circumstances” requirement for plaintiffs like Ames is unfair. A decision, which is expected by the end of June, could, if it’s in her favor, make it easier for nonminorities to bring claims of “reverse” employment discrimination.”<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images (WASHINGTON) — Marlean Ames had earned positive performance reviews for nearly 15 years in her job at the Ohio Department of Youth Services. But in 2019 when she applied for a promotion, she got passed over for the position and was subsequently demoted. A gay woman gotRead More →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,31,2],"tags":[273,271,276,274,270,123,275,133,124,272,102,103],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109045"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}