The E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse, home of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, on June 6, 2020. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overruled circuit precedent Friday in striking a limitation on claims of discriminatory lateral job transfers and expanding the scope of federal anti-bias protections.
The 21-page opinion overturns a court ruling from 1999, Brown v. Brody, that held a person cannot sue over a lateral job transfer denial under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 unless they suffered “objectively tangible harm” as a result—even if the decision was based on race, age or sex.
