Woman who says she was demoted because she is straight wins US Supreme Court bid
The decision to revive Marlean Ames’ lawsuit makes it easier for people from majority backgrounds to pursue ‘reverse discrimination’ cases
The US Supreme Court made it easier on Thursday for people from majority backgrounds such as white or straight individuals to pursue claims alleging workplace “reverse” discrimination, reviving an Ohio woman’s lawsuit claiming she was illegally denied a promotion and demoted because she is heterosexual.
The justices, in a 9-0 ruling written by liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, threw out a lower court’s decision rejecting a civil rights lawsuit by the plaintiff, Marlean Ames, against her employer, Ohio’s Department of Youth Services.
Ames said she had a gay supervisor when she was passed over for a promotion in favour of a gay woman and demoted, with a pay cut, in favour of a gay man.
The dispute centred on how plaintiffs like Ames must try to prove a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, national origin and sex – including sexual orientation.
Ames challenged a requirement used by some US courts that plaintiffs from majority groups must provide more evidence than minority plaintiffs to make an initial – or “prima facie” – claim of discrimination under a 1973 Supreme Court ruling that governs the multi-step process employed to resolve such cases.
These courts include the Cincinnati-based 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against Ames. They require majority-group plaintiffs to show “background circumstances” indicating that a defendant accused of workplace bias is “that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority”.