Lambda Legal

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A number of Lambda Legal's employment discrimination cases have concluded in settlements. When the case doesn't end with a verdict finding the employer liable, does that mean we lost? And since the lawsuit isn't resolved with a published opinion, how can settling the case meet our organizational mission of handling impact litigation?

There are a number of ways of winning a case and having a positive impact on the rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV. Success in employment discrimination lawsuits sometimes involves obtaining legal judgments awarding money, ordering or prohibiting specific acts or declaring what the law requires. But success also can be achieved through settlements where, to resolve the dispute, an employer makes payments and agrees to take or refrain from certain action, and where publicity about the settlement educates other employers about what failing to prevent discrimination can cost. Settlements also can secure relief a court would not have been able to provide.

When the case doesn't end with a verdict finding the employer liable, have we lost?

A good example is the settlement we obtained for Kevin Dunbar in his sexual orientation discrimination case against Foot Locker. The settlement not only provided financial recovery, but Foot Locker agreed that its employee training thereafter would highlight sexual orientation discrimination issues and that all employees would be informed every quarter that future instances could be reported nationally to obtain corporate headquarters help — something a court would have been unlikely to order.

Likewise, when the complaint we pursued for Matthew Cusick resulted in the largest public settlement of an HIV discrimination complaint brought before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, scores of publications as diverse as The Washington Post, AIDS Policy & Law, Backstage, Disability Compliance Bulletin and Business Insurance prominently covered it. This educated the public, the legal community and people with HIV about anti discrimination protections, helping deter future discriminatory acts. Under the settlement, Cirque du Soleil further agreed to host annual, worldwide employee antidiscrimination training and to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward HIV discrimination, publicly modeling wise practices to other employers.

That's impact. That's success. So, the lesson is: Sometimes what one settles for isn't second best.