Employment Law Blog
Kathleen Peratis Reflects on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gender Equality Advocate
The entire Outten & Golden family was saddened to hear about the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but no one more than our partner Kathleen Peratis, a close friend of Justice Ginsburg.
Kathleen served as the director of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project from 1975 to 1979, during which she fought alongside Ginsburg on the gender discrimination cases the ACLU took to the Court. Of the six appeals Ginsburg argued before “the brethren,” she won five.
Gaming Industry Finally Reckoning With Rampant Sexism and Harassment As Scores of Women Come Forward
Gaming is big business. Often, it is also a cesspool of misogyny, assault, sexual harassment, and discrimination. As detailed in a recent New York Times exposé, scores of competitive gamers and streamers have courageously come forward with stories of rampant sexual misconduct and hostile environments of harassment allowed to persist by industry leaders and fellow competitors. As appalling as the tales are, victims and others in the industry forecast these recent stories will serve as catalysts for long-overdue changes after previous waves of complaints were met with swift backlash or denials.
The Times report details how gamers have been sharing their stories of mistreatment on platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, and the blogging platform TwitLonger. Similar to claims of sexual harassment and discrimination in the “bro love” culture of the tech industry, gamers’ have alleged nonconsensual touching, propositions for sex, and harassment by highly-ranked and high-profile gamers as well as executives at companies that manage gaming talent,
10 Years After Dodd-Frank, Here’s What We Know
In 2010, Congress responded to years of turmoil in the financial services industry by enacting the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). This landmark legislation was intended to protect consumers, regulate and police Wall Street, restore economic stability, end “too-big-to-fail” institutions, and prevent another financial crisis.
July 2020 marked the tenth anniversary of Dodd-Frank. Despite several attempts to undercut the law over the past decade, its protections have benefitted countless U.S. consumers, investors, taxpayers, and whistleblowers. Even now, Dodd-Frank has helped the nation avoid an economic collapse in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Words Matter: Inherent Bias and Employment Discrimination
If the events of the past few weeks have shown us anything, it's that - like Black lives - words matter. Both spoken and in writing, the language we use has the power to inspire, offend, unite, and divide. Sometimes, the use of seemingly harmless words, or even the...
Supreme Court Decisions Provide a Glimmer of Hope for Racial Justice
The current chaos in our lives includes a pandemic that has put over twenty million people out of work and the seemingly unceasing killing of Black people by police. But last week, we saw glimmers of hope for a better future. On Thursday, June 18, 2020, the U.S....
“Dreamers” Fight Against Discrimination Continues Following Supreme Court DACA Ruling
In a significant victory for immigrants' rights, the U.S Supreme Court blocked the Trump Administration's attempt to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Court's surprising 5-4 decision found the administration failed to provide...
In the Wake of Racial Injustice, Employees and Employers Are Checking Each Other
As conversation surrounding racial justice grows nationwide, candid discussions regarding race are coming to a head in the workplace, where employers and employees are pushing one another to be on the right side of the conversation. While the national conversation is...
California Law Protects Workers From Termination or Retaliation for Participating in Black Lives Matter or Other Political Protests
The massive protests following the murder of George Floyd have brought together people of all races, ages, and walks of life in a collective movement to address systemic racism and police brutality against Black people. Outten & Golden is profoundly committed to...
The Criminality Myth That Furthers Employment Inequality and Devalues Black Lives
Ban the Box legislation can be an important tool in remedying Black underemployment by removing employers' ability to use criminal history as a proxy for discrimination. However, it only attacks a symptom of the problem created by America's racist history, the...
How Videoconferencing Has Become Part of the “New Normal” in the Practice of Law
The COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide crisis of epic proportions. It has created enormous challenges, some of which are apparent, such as health and economic impacts that are without equal in our lifetimes. More challenges undoubtedly await us, some of which we may not...
