The Supreme Court decisions have been coming out faster than I can reasonably speak to them. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar was announced by the Court on June 24. By the now familiar vote of 5-4 (Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia and Kenndy in Majority; Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor in Dissent) the Court narrowed the basis upon which a retaliation complaint can be determined.
The Court noted that retaliation complaints have skyrocketed in recent years, largely due to the absurdly low bar for advancing such a claim and reinforced by the EEOC’s embracing of the standard of “one motivating factor” among others.
The majority sent a very clear message in drawing a bright line under the “but for” standard. This higher bar should have a chilling effect on frivolous retaliation claims as it will be expected to be widely adopted in matters before courts across the nation.
Chalk another win up for HR!