WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court agreed on June 5 that a state worker from Green faced a higher hurdle to sue her employer as a straight woman than if she’d been gay.
The unanimous decision, which landed amid a national backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, could trigger a wave of “reverse discrimination” lawsuits.
The justices rejected a lower court’s ruling that Marlean Ames of Green could not sue the Ohio Department of Youth Services because she’d failed to provide “background circumstances” showing the department was “that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.”
That’s a test created in 1981 by a federal appeals court used by some, but not most, of the federal courts when assessing claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in 1981 that while white people are covered by the Civil Rights Act, it defied common sense “to suggest that the promotion of a black employee justifies an inference of prejudice against white co-workers in our present society.”
But the law itself, which bans discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex or national origin,” doesn’t set different thresholds for members of minority and majority groups.
Ames has been employed at Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility in Massillon since 2004.
Ames’ lawyers told the justices her suit would not have been dismissed at this stage of the litigation had she been gay and the employees who got the jobs she wanted were straight.
During the court’s discussion of the case in February, Ohio’s solicitor general did not defend the “exact language” the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals used when rejecting Ames’ suit over insufficient “background circumstances.” But T. Elliot Gaiser, the solicitor general, argued that Ames still failed to show enough evidence that her sexual orientation played any role in the hiring decisions she questioned.
Ames twice lost jobs at the Ohio Department of Youth Services to other candidates she thought were less qualified, both of whom were gay.
The department said she was passed over for a promotion because she lacked the necessary vision and leadership skills, not because she happened to be straight.
Officials said she was then demoted from her administrator position because she wouldn’t bring a proactive approach to the department’s increased emphasis on combatting sexual violence in the juvenile corrections system.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services doesn’t settle Ames’ discrimination claim but only revives it for additional court proceedings.
Ames’ Akron attorney reacts to the decision
Ed Gilbert was confident the U.S. Supreme Court would rule in Ames’ favor, but he was surprised that the decision was unanimous.
“That makes it clear,” Gilbert said after the ruling. “It’s correcting a wrong that the entire court acknowledged.”
A minority of federal appeals courts — the 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th and D.C. circuits — applied the background circumstances standard before this decision. Gilbert said there has not been a flood of discrimination lawsuits in the seven circuits that did not apply the standard.
“It draws a straight line, so it’s the same elements of proof for everyone,” he said.
Although this is not the end of Ames’ legal battle, Gilbert said she deserves the victory.
“She’s endured a lot,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Supreme Court sides with straight woman from Green in ‘reverse discrimination’ case
Reporting by Maureen Groppe and Bryce Buyakie, USA TODAY and Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
