discrimination

Subscribe to discrimination

The 10-3 en banc decision in Zarda v. Altitude Express issued earlier this week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is likely to be relied on by regulators and private plaintiffs alleging violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act based on sexual orientation discrimination.  In Zarda, the Second Circuit held that the prohibition on employment discrimination on the basis of sex in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act includes discrimination based on sexual orientation. … Continue Reading

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has announced a settlement in its lawsuit against Travelers Indemnity Company in which it alleged that Travelers engaged in discriminatory conduct in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA).

In its lawsuit, which was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., NFHA alleged that Travelers had a policy of refusing to provide habitational insurance policies to landlords that rent to tenants who use Housing Choice Vouchers, also known as Section 8 vouchers. … Continue Reading

The Department of Justice has filed an amicus brief in a case pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that presents the question of whether the prohibition on employment discrimination on the basis of sex in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act includes discrimination based on sexual orientation. … Continue Reading

The CFPB and DOJ recently announced a proposed consent order with BancorpSouth Bank to settle charges that the bank’s mortgage lending practices violated the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.  In addition to allegations of redlining and discrimination resulting from discretionary underwriting and pricing, the agencies’ joint complaint filed in federal court in Mississippi includes allegations of overt discrimination that are based in part on what the CFPB has called its first use of testers or “mystery shoppers” posing as consumers to support discrimination charges. … Continue Reading

In several blog posts and legal alerts, we have previously written about disparate impact and auto finance.  Together with our colleague, Jonathan Selkowitz, we have recently written an article on “Auto Finance and Disparate Impact: Substantive Lessons Learned from Class Certification Decisions.”

The article, which was published in the May 1, 2015 edition of the Consumer Financial Services Law Report, discusses the substantive implications that class certification appellate decisions may have for disparate impact pricing claims alleged against assignees of motor vehicle retail installment sale contracts.… Continue Reading

The CFPB’s headquarters renovations is now the subject of two ongoing projects of the Office of Inspector General (OIG), according to the OIG’s updated work plan as of July 25, 2014.

As the OIG indicates in the work plan, it issued a letter in June 2014 reporting the results of its evaluation of the CFPB’s renovation budget. … Continue Reading

On July 30, 2014, the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing titled “Allegations of Discrimination and Retaliation and the CFPB Management Culture.”  Director Cordray is the sole witness scheduled to appear. 

The hearing will represent the Subcommittee’s fourth hearing on alleged employee discrimination at the CFPB and the first of such hearings at which Director Cordray will testify. … Continue Reading

On June 25, 2014, the CFPB issued guidance setting forth basic principles on the issue of equal treatment for legally-married same-sex couples. The CFPB noted that this guidance was issued in response to the decision in United States v. Windsor, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013), in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”).… Continue Reading

Yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a third hearing in its series of hearings addressing alleged discrimination at the CFPB. The Subcommittee heard testimony from current and former CFPB employees who described their experiences with discrimination and retaliation at the CFPB. The witnesses testified that Director Cordray’s reluctance to fire managers who had been accused of discrimination and retaliation “emboldened and empowered” other managers to continue to act badly.… Continue Reading

The House Financial Services Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will be holding a hearing tomorrow entitled “Allegations of Discrimination and Retaliation within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Part Three.” We have blogged about the Subcommittee’s two previous hearings on this issue.

The Subcommittee subpoenaed two CFPB witnesses to testify before the hearing:

  • Ali Naraghi, Examiner, Southeast Region, Division of Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending
  • Kevin Williams, former Quality Monitor, Office of Consumer Response

Mr.… Continue Reading