Arlene Switzer Steinfield Quoted in Business Insurance Article on Recent EEOC Cases

Arlene Switzer Steinfield, Dallas-based senior counsel in Dykema’s Labor and Employment Practice, was quoted in the Business Insurance article, “EEOC cases alert employers to sexual orientation bias.”

The article discusses the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) filing of two cases alleging discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Steinfield points out that the EEOC is trying to expand Title VII’s statutory definition of “sex discrimination” to include sexual orientation discrimination as a new protected characteristic, even though the statute does not expressly include sexual orientation as one. She also stated that she believes the EEOC may be successful in its pursuit of this litigation because, among other reasons, the EEOC has chosen two cases with egregious facts.  

Steinfield also discussed that, even though Title VII does not include sexual orientation, she advises clients to train their supervisors to understand that epithets related to homosexuality or inquiries about a homosexual person’s sex life are unacceptable in the workplace.

Subscribers to Business Insurance can read the entire article here.  A fuller analysis of those two cases is provided on Dykema’s Labor and Employment Blog in an article authored by Steinfield.