In an historic move, the U.S. Supreme Court announced today it will review the Lambda Legal case filed on behalf of Jameka Evans, a Savannah security guard who was harassed at work and forced from her job because she is a lesbian. Jameka Evans is just one of many LGBT people across the country who have been fired, harassed, and targeted at work, simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. By taking this case, the court has the opportunity to affirm the same workplace protections for LGBT people as all other Americans.
“This is another milestone link in the chain of landmark civil rights cases brought by Lambda Legal and our sister organizations that have struck down discriminatory laws and forged key protections across the country for LGBT people and everyone living with HIV,” Lambda Legal CEO Rachel B. Tiven said. “No one should have to worry about being fired from their job simply because of who they are or whom they love. By hearing this case, the Supreme Court can solidify employment protections so all LGBT people are treated fairly at work.”
“I feel like we just reached the most important checkpoint in a very long process. I’m excited that the Supreme Court will hear this case and I hope this will ensure that no one else can be pushed out of their job simply because of who they are or who they love,” said Jameka Evans.
Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital is an appeal of a ruling by the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals that had ruled against Jameka Evans, and in doing so contradicted several federal courts that have affirmed the argument that Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibitions do extend to sexual orientation discrimination. Most notably, the full U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overruled four of its precedents and ruled in April that Lambda Legal client Kimberly Hively could proceed under the Civil Rights Act with her claim that Indiana-based Ivy Tech Community College discriminated against her because she is a lesbian. And, in September, Lambda Legal appeared before the full Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Zarda v. Altitude Express, the case of a New York skydiving instructor who was fired from his job because he was gay.
“This is a momentous step forward because it means the Supreme Court will look closely at the Civil Rights Act and hopefully establish once and for all that getting or keeping a job shouldn’t depend on your sexual orientation,” said Greg Nevins, Employment Fairness Project Director for Lambda Legal. “It’s time for LGBT people everywhere to be protected against employment discrimination. The ability to put a roof over your head and feed your family is one of the most basic needs, and freedom from discrimination is an essential part of that.”
In April of 2015, Evans filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia against her former employer, Georgia Regional Hospital, arguing that the hospital violated federal law by discriminating against her because of her sexual orientation and her nonconformity with gender norms of appearance and demeanor. The district court dismissed the case. In January of last year, Lambda Legal filed an appeal on Evans’ behalf, arguing that she must have her day in court, because Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, properly understood, protects LGBT employees, citing rulings by several federal district courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finding that sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination and thereby a prohibited employment practice.
On March 10, 2017, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit held that it was compelled by a 1979 ruling to reject Evans’ sexual orientation discrimination claim. Lambda Legal asked the whole court to rehear the case so that it could reexamine the 1979 precedent, but unlike the Seventh Circuit and Second Circuit, the full Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals declined to rehear the case on July 6. Citing a clear conflict among the circuits, Lambda Legal filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. Today, the Supreme Court agreed to review the case.
A favorable ruling in Evans would be the high watermark of Lambda Legal’s efforts to establish and enforce employment discrimination protection for all LGBT people. In addition to the sexual orientation cases, these efforts include an historic win for transgender workplace rights in Glenn v. Brumby and the current lawsuit Karnoski v. Trump challenging the ban on transgender troops. Lambda Legal also launched Out at Work, a campaign to support Jameka Evans in her pursuit for justice, bring awareness to LGBT people everywhere of their Title VII rights, and assert that all people have the right to a job with dignity, free from repercussions for who they are or whom they love. The Evans case itself does not specifically involve transgender protections at work, but any favorable ruling necessarily will emphasize the importance of eradicating all discrimination “because of such individual’s . . . sex,” irrespective of whether there is another label, such as “sexual orientation discrimination” or “gender identity discrimination” that also applies.
The U.S. Supreme Court, which agrees to hear less than two percent of the cases brought to it each year, has heard only a handful of cases about the rights of LGBT people.“ Just like the same-sex couples in Obergefell and Masterpiece Cakeshop who demanded equality in marriage and businesses open to the public, Jameka Evans deserves to be treated with the same dignity and respect at work as anyone else,” Nevins added.
The Supreme Court issued a briefing schedule for the case today, and Lambda Legal’s opening brief is due in 45 days. The court will hear oral arguments in the case this spring.
Lambda Legal Employment Fairness Project Director Greg Nevins is the lead attorney for both the Hively and Evans appeals. The attorneys on the Evans certiorari petition are Nevins, Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Karen Loewy and Professors Pamela S. Karlan and Jeffrey L. Fisher of the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.
The case is Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital.
Read the petition: https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/us_evans_20170907_petition-scotus
More information about Lambda Legal’s work on employment protections is available here: http://www.lambdalegal.org/issues/employment-and-rights-in-the-workplace