Employment lawyers are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will resolve a conflict in the federal circuits over the so-called cat’s paw theory. That says an employer is liable for discrimination when a final decision-maker is influenced by a lower-level employee with discriminatory motives to take an adverse action against another worker.
On Nov. 9, the Supreme Court asked the solicitor general for the government’s views on the case of Staub v. Proctor Hospital, which raises the cat’s paw theory. The Court is considering whether to hear the case.
