U.S. Supreme Court Equalizes Treatment of Reverse Discrimination Claims with Other Types of Discrimination Claims

On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously resolved a disagreement among certain lower courts under federal anti-discrimination law that reverse discrimination claims (i.e., alleged victim is part of a majority group instead of a minority group within the employer’s workforce) should not require a heightened burden of proof compared to other discrimination claims.  In the case, the plaintiff was a heterosexual woman who sued her employer claiming that she was passed over for promotion and subsequently demoted in favor of other employees who were not heterosexual.  The trial court and the appeals court ruled against the employee using additional proof elements just for a majority member victim trying to prove illegal discrimination. The heightened proof involved the majority member victim having to prove – in addition to the standard elements of a discrimination claim - that a member of the relevant minority group made the contested employment decision against the majority member victim and that statistical evidence showed inclination of employer discrimination against the majority group.   

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled though that there is nothing in the federal anti-discrimination law under review that would permit courts to impose upon plaintiffs a higher burden of proof simply by being a member of a majority group and thus the same standard of proof would apply to all discrimination claims regardless of whether the plaintiff was a member of a minority or majority group in the employer’s workforce.  The Supreme Court’s decision is available here.