The Supreme Court Speaks:

The Supreme Court’s decisions in Ricci v. DeStefano and Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. will likely have far-reaching implications. Ricci, decided by a panel which included Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, raises questions concerning the steps employers may take when avoidance of discrimination against one group may mean discrimination against another group. In FBL, the Court was called upon to decide whether a plaintiff must present direct evidence of discrimination to obtain a mixed-motive instruction in a non-Title VII discrimination case. Our expert panel will discuss the holdings in these important decisions, and the impact on workers and employers alike.

Christine Godsil Cooper (Moderator) is a Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she teaches employment courses, contracts, and torts.   She joined Loyola's faculty in 1978 and is an arbitrator on AAA’s Employment Disputes Panel and Labor Panel. Topics on which she has written and spoken include sexual harassment, the toxic workplace, affirmative action, employment contracts, constructive discharge, and labor preemption. Ms. Cooper was co-chair of the ABA Committee on Employment Rights and Responsibilities, recently served as Secretary of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, and is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Eric S. Dreiband is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Jones Day. He represents companies in all aspects of civil rights, employment discrimination, and wage and hour litigation.  From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Dreiband served as the general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  As General Counsel, he directed the federal government's litigation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. While at the EEOC, he issued the EEOC's Regional Attorneys' Manual, which established the policies and procedures of the Commission's litigation program. He has spoken and written extensively about civil rights, employment discrimination, and wage and hour laws. He also has testified about these subjects before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and is listed in the 2008 edition of Chambers USA as one of the best labor and employment lawyers in Washington.

Eric Schnapper has been a Professor at the University of Washington Law since 1995, where he teaches Civil Rights and Employment Discrimination law, among other things. He served for twenty-five years as an assistant counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., specializing in appellate litigation and legislative activities.  He has handled more than seventy Supreme Court cases. Most recently, Professor Schnapper has won favorable decisions for workers in Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville,129 S.Ct. 846 (2009)(scope of anti-retaliation protection of Title VII), and CBOCS v. Humphries, 128 S. Ct. 1951 (2008) (applicability of section 1981 to retaliation claims. Mr. Schnapper has counsel before the Supreme Court for the plaintiff, Mr. Gross, in FBL Financial Services.

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