Latest Discrimination News

New federal rule bars transgender school bathroom bans, but it likely isn't the final word

Apr. 23, 2024 09:20 AM EDT

A new rule from President Joe Biden's administration blocking blanket policies to keep transgender students from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity could conflict with laws in Republican-controlled states. The clash over bathroom policy and other elements of...

Mississippi lawmakers move toward restoring voting rights to 32 felons as broader suffrage bill dies

Apr. 23, 2024 00:30 AM EDT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators advanced bills Monday to give voting rights back to 32 people convicted of felonies, weeks after a Senate leader killed a broader bill that would have restored suffrage to many more people with criminal records. The move is necessary...

Lawsuits under New York's new voting rights law reveal racial disenfranchisement even in blue states

Apr. 20, 2024 00:12 AM EDT

FREEPORT, N.Y. (AP) — Weihua Yan had seen dramatic demographic changes since moving to Long Island's Nassau County. Its Asian American population alone had grown by 60% since the 2010 census. Why then, he wondered, did he not see anyone who looked like him on the county's local...

First major attempts to regulate AI face headwinds from all sides

Apr. 18, 2024 19:10 PM EDT

DENVER (AP) — Artificial intelligence is helping decide which Americans get the job interview, the apartment, even medical care, but the first major proposals to reign in bias in AI decision making are facing headwinds from every direction. Lawmakers working on these bills, in...

Convenience store chain with hundreds of outlets in 6 states hit with discrimination lawsuit

Apr. 18, 2024 17:19 PM EDT

The Sheetz convenience store chain has been hit with a lawsuit by federal officials who allege the company discriminated against minority job applicants. Sheetz Inc., which operates more than 700 stores in six states, discriminated against Black, Native American and multiracial job...

Republican AGs attack Biden's EPA for pursuing environmental discrimination cases

Apr. 17, 2024 18:18 PM EDT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Republican attorneys general attacked the Biden administration’s stated goal of pursuing environmental justice, calling it a form of “racial engineering.‘’ Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and 22 other GOP officials asked the EPA Tuesday to stop using...

Supreme Court makes it easier to sue for job discrimination over forced transfers

Apr. 17, 2024 12:31 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it easier for workers who are transferred from one job to another against their will to pursue job discrimination claims under federal civil rights law, even when they are not demoted or docked pay. Workers only have to show...

Massachusetts official warns AI systems subject to consumer protection, anti-bias laws

Apr. 16, 2024 16:20 PM EDT

BOSTON (AP) — Developers, suppliers, and users of artificial intelligence must comply with existing state consumer protection, anti-discrimination, and data privacy laws, the Massachusetts attorney general cautioned Tuesday. In an advisory, Attorney General Andrea Campbell pointed...

Armenia insists top UN court has jurisdiction to hear case accusing Azerbaijan of racial hatred

Apr. 16, 2024 07:30 AM EDT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Armenia insisted Tuesday that the top United Nations court has jurisdiction to hear its case accusing Azerbaijan of breaching an international convention that aims to stamp out racial discrimination. At a preliminary hearing Monday, Azerbaijan had...

New rules for Pregnant Workers Fairness Act include divisive accommodations for abortion

Apr. 15, 2024 21:11 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Workers are entitled to time off and other job accommodations for abortions — along with pregnancy-related medical conditions like miscarriage, stillbirth and lactation — under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, according to finalized federal regulations published Monday. ...