Photo of Timia A. Skelton

Timia Skelton is an associate in the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group.

Before June 5, 2025, the law (at least in some jurisdictions) was that majority-group employees (e.g., white or heterosexual) had to show additional “background circumstances” in addition to a prima facie case to prove discrimination­ – a heightened evidentiary standard. However, the U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected the “background circumstances” rule in Ames v. Ohio

Can you still have DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs? How about affirmative action plans? The Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard garnered national attention in holding that Harvard’s admissions program, which used race as a factor in admissions, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.