Offit Kurman Principal Debbie Petito Quoted in Law360 on Firing of DEI Protester

Debbie Petito, head of the Labor & Employment Group with Offit Kurman, was recently quoted in the Law360 article, “4 Lessons as 7^th Circ. OKs Honeywell Firing of DEI Protester.” The article looks at the firing of an employee after they opposed and skipped mandatory DEI training. The Seventh Circuit recently held that the firing was legal based on a lack of an “objectively reasonable belief” that the employee should oppose the seminar as he had not yet attended it.

Petito told Law360 that while this case hinged on the employee’s refusal to do the training and his lack of valid basis for not completing it, in other cases, employers could face a harder road based on the circumstances.

She noted, “While I think employers can definitely not let people just get away with not wanting to take training or do things that [are] required, I think they still have to be really careful as to what the person’s complaining about and specifically [which] potential laws they might be complaining are being violated so that they don’t find themselves on a different side of this case.”

Read the full Law360 article here (subscription required).