Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on workplace retaliation, defining "supervisor" under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and gay marriage rights have provided a summertime bounty of topics for legal talking heads.

Continuing legal education offerings include recent and upcoming seminars on one or more of the justices' much-discussed late June decisions in University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, Vance v. Ball State University, and United States v. Windsor.

In Nassar, the court held that Title VII retaliation plaintiffs must prove "but-for" causation to establish a claim.  In Vance, it ruled that a supervisor for purposes of Title VII is someone with the power to take tangible employment action, such as termination or demotion, against a co-worker. In Windsor, the court struck down as unconstitutional the Defense of Marriage Act's exclusion of state-sanctioned, same-sex marriages from the federal definition of "marriage." 

At a recent session of the National Employment Lawyers Association's 2013 Annual Convention, for example, federal agency officials and plaintiffs' attorneys remarked on the impact Nassar and Vance are expected to have on worker rights.

The consensus of the speakers seemed to be that the two decisions impose new unfair restrictions on the right to be free from discrimination in the workplace. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Director Patricia Shiu, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Commissioner Jenny Yang, and others urged the private plaintiffs' bar to join with federal enforcement authorities in redoubling efforts to fight for new and greater employee protections.

Similarly, at a Bloomberg BNA webinar, participants heard about Windsor's possible ramifications on employment rights, especially with regard to retirement and related benefits.

Employment lawyers and others concerned about the changes spurred by Nassar, Vance, and Windsor should continue to watch for educational seminars addressing these cases. Information on upcoming Bloomberg BNA seminars is available at http://www.bna.com/continuing-education-Legal-business-e12884910606/.