Summary of Thompson v. North American Stainless

摘要

In January 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an 8-0 opinion (Kagan, J., recused) that Title Ⅶ's ban on workplace retaliation against an employee who challenges discrimination also protects a co-worker who is closely related to the employee who filed the complaint. In Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP (NAS),6 the respondent (NAS) fired Thompson after his fiancee, also a NAS employee, filed a sex discrimination charge against NAS with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The district court granted NAS summary judgment on the ground that third-party retaliation claims were not permitted by Title VII, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed.