- Posts by Heather M. DomingoAssociate
Attorney Heather Domingo works with businesses of all sizes and across various industries to resolve complex disputes during all stages of litigation, establish best practices, and mitigate future risk.
Heather counsels and ...
California continues to be the birthplace of ideas that complicate employment laws. True to form, it is the first state to adopt the concept of intersectionality in its anti-discrimination statutes.
On September 27, 2024, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 1137 (SB 1137) into law. This legislation amends several provisions of existing California law to clarify that unlawful discriminatory practices may include “any combination” of protected characteristics or traits – not just a single one.
Of particular importance to companies: SB 1137 thus modifies the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination by business establishments, and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), which prohibits harassment and discrimination in employment. The updates to these laws will take effect on January 1, 2025.
Lam v. University of Hawaii
While SB 1137 is the first statutory law of its kind, the concept of intersectional discrimination is not new. Thirty years ago, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit addressed this challenge. In Lam v. University of Hawaii, a woman of Vietnamese descent filed a lawsuit against the University of Hawaii Richardson School of Law, alleging that the law school violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against her on the bases of her race, sex, and national origin. Lam had applied but was twice rejected from the law school’s Pacific Asian Legal Studies Program.
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