The 1964 Civil Rights Act made it illegal to base employment decisions on protected characteristics, including sex and race. It doesn’t contain a carveout for “reverse” discrimination against majority groups—nor does it create special, extra-demanding legal standards for such cases.
And yet courts in several of the nation’s appeals circuits have long made these cases harder to bring. In the Sixth Circuit, for instance, plaintiffs from majority groups have had to show “background circumstances to support the suspicion that the defendant is that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.”
