Sunu P. Chandy (she/her) is currently a Senior Advisor with Democracy Forward, supporting work across the teams including fighting attacks on racial equity, diversity, and inclusion, and working alongside partner organizations to help build a nation that does right by all of us. Sunu is also the author of an award-winning collection of poems, My Dear Comrades, published by Regal House. Before starting at Democracy Forward in September 2023, she served as the Legal Director of the National Women’s Law Center for six years. She led the Center’s litigation efforts, providing strategy across NWLC to create better outcomes for women and girls including in schools, workplaces, and the healthcare sector. She also helped to create the Center’s Legal Network for Gender Equity, provided guidance for the Center’s policy positions towards greater workplace justice, and led their LGBTQ+ rights work. She provided Congressional testimony in support of the Equality Act, a bill that would strengthen and clarify civil rights protections including for LGBTQ+ individuals, and provided testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Federal Sector and #metoo. Until August 2017, Sunu served as the Deputy Director for the Civil Rights Division with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and before that, Sunu was the General Counsel of the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR). Previously, Sunu was a federal attorney with the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for 15 years. At EEOC, Sunu led several outreach and training initiatives including as a member of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAPPI) Regional Working Group. Sunu began her legal career as a law firm associate representing unions and individual workers in New York City at Gladstein, Reif and Megginniss, LLP. Sunu earned her B.A. in Peace and Global Studies/Women’s Studies from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston and later, her MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Queens College/The City University of New York in 2013. Sunu is cited as a legal expert on topics including workplace civil rights laws, gender justice and LGBTQ+ rights by The New York Times, The Washington Post, LA Times, Ms. Magazine, the Advocate, CSPAN, NBC, ABC and NPR. Sunu serves on the board of directors for the Transgender Law Center, and has been included as one the Washington Blade’s Queer Women of Washington and one of Go Magazine’s 100 Women We Love.

Senior Advisor - Democracy Forward (September 2023)

  • January 29, 2024

Daily Labor Report, Bloomberg Law

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released a new fact sheet on workplace discrimination against Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and Jewish workers, a potential signal of rising charges filed at the commission by these workers. “This moment harkens back to the increase in harassment following 9/11,” said Sunu Chandy, a senior advisor at Democracy Forward and former EEOC attorney. “As an EEOC attorney during those years, we tracked the increased number of changes against many communities, including South Asians.” Gilbride said in her remarks that the EEOC is reviewing charge data to evaluate whether the agency is witnessing an uptick in charges “on the basis of religion or national origin affecting Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities or people who might be perceived as belonging to those communities.”

Sunu Chandy, a senior adviser for legal services nonprofit Democracy Forward, said the “background circumstances” test is “one of the few places in the law where circuit courts are still recognizing that these laws were created in response to really intense discrimination” and power dynamics in society.

  • October 27, 2023

    ABA Panel Speaker - The State of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Beyond Affirmative Action in Admissions  (link to the recording)
    Moderator: Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense Fund
    Speakers: Richard Lewis, President, New York State Bar Association
    Brad Karp, Chair, NYSBA Task Force on Advancing Diversity; Chairman, Paul Weiss LLP
    Sunu Chandy, Senior Advisor, Democracy Forward
    Jill Rosenberg, Partner, Orrick, Herrington, Sutcliffe LLP
    Lisa Velazquez, Partner, Paul Weiss LLP

***

Legal Director -  National Women's Law Center  

Deputy Director for Civil Rights, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Legal Consultant - Ms. Foundation for Women

General Counsel - D.C. Office for Human Rights

Senior Trial Attorney - U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - New York District Office

Associate Attorney - Gladstein, Reif, & Megginniss, LLP

Selected Legal Internships and Law Clinics –

Vladeck, Waldman, Elias, & Englehardt (now Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C.)

NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (now Legal Momentum)

Poverty Law Clinic, Northeastern University School of Law

 

Selected past PRESS / case HIGHLIGHTS

National Women's Law Center

LEAF’s Feminist Strategic Litigation (FSL) Project - This Case is About Feminism – Assessing the Effectiveness of Feminist Strategic Litigation

Even where litigation does not immediately bring about a change in law, it produces a narrative which may uplift issues in the public imagination. (Page 42 of report, FN 168)

Nation of Change - Right-wing SCOTUS majority signals support for anti-LGBTQ+ reactionaries

The arguments presented Monday “underscore the fundamental rights at stake” in the case, said Sunu Chandy, legal director for the National Women’s Law Center, “including for LGBTQ people, people of color, women, people with disabilities, and people of all faiths. If the Supreme Court decides to toss away its own precedents, there would be little to stop businesses from discriminating against customers not only based on sexual orientation, but also because of other characteristics like race, sex, disability, religion, or national origin,” said Chandy.

SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) - Justices Appear Split on Case Involving LGBTQ Rights and Religious Freedoms

If the court rules in favor of the website designer, "a print shop that disapproves of women working outside the home could refuse to make business cards for women. A jeweler opposed to interfaith marriages could refuse to design jewelry for a mixed-faith couple. A family photographer with white supremacist beliefs could refuse to offer their services to a Black family. The court must reject this approach," said Sunu Chandy, legal director of the National Women's Law Center.

AlterNet - Court observers warn right-wing SCOTUS majority 'does not bode well for the future of civil rights law'

“The court must reject this approach, prevent second-class citizenship, and ensure all companies are open for business for all,” Chandy added.

Law Dork, with Chris Geidner - Amici: Advancing inclusion in a time when the Supreme Court majority doesn't seem to care

As I was getting at before, many companies, corporations, schools have done so much — often led by students, by workers, by impacted communities — to do proactive work for the good in terms of racial justice, and gender justice, and LGBTQ inclusion. And what we are talking about — with the laws and cases and these rules — are but one tool in our toolbox. But so many organizations are doing good work. And they’re doing good work, whether or not it’s legally required.

For me, this is all about changing our society. For the good. That’s the project. The project isn’t winning a court case, the project is changing our society for the good. And rules, regulations, court cases are one avenue. People banding together and pushing — you know, we now have a union at the National Women’s Law Center, which is wonderful. Many nonprofits are going in that direction. These are all places where you can have diversity, inclusion, EEO pieces as well. And our federal government can have executive orders that tell federal agencies what to do for the good, to include LGBTQ workers, to implement Bostock, to push for diversity and inclusion in many, many different ways.

Diversity and inclusion doesn’t die or fall with this one case. We, of course, want to have fair admissions policies that allow students to talk about their background, including their race, and having that be part of the admissions process. We think that’s right, that’s important, that’s necessary. But, no matter what happens with that, we will find ways to push for what we need, which is an inclusive and fair society.

ABA (American Bar Association) Civil Rights and Social Justice Human Rights Magazine, Vol. 47, No. 3/4: Intersection of LGBTQ Rights and Religious Freedom

Exception Swallowing the Rule? The Expanding Ministerial Exception Puts Workers at Religious Employers at Risk of Losing Civil Rights Protections

The Independent on MSN.com - Supreme Court accused of ‘inviting religion into classroom’ by saying football coach had right to pray

“No one should be pressured to pray at school – this can be a harmful use of power, especially for girls and LGBTQ students,” said Sunu Chandy, legal director of the National Women’s Law Centre.

Colorado Politics - 10th Circuit rules against Arvada religious school in employment discrimination appeal

Advocates for Tucker praised the decision on Tuesday, characterizing it as a necessary pushback on the practice of religious employers labeling their workers as faith leaders to avoid liability for employment discrimination. This chipping away of our core civil rights protections cannot go on. It's a very big deal," said Sunu P. Chandy, legal director of the National Women's Law Center, who filed a brief supportive of Tucker on behalf of roughly three dozen legal and civil rights groups.

Bloomberg Law - Activision Sells Culture Shakeup to Skeptics in Harassment Deal

“Anytime you have a settlement that’s public, and it’s a significant monetary settlement, it sends a message far and wide, that discrimination does not pay,” said Sunu Chandy, legal director at the National Women’s Law Center. …and the settlement will give employees more access to counseling. “This is the first EEOC consent decree I’ve seen that has included the mental health provisions, which are so crucial, and so lacking in much of the work that’s done,” Chandy said.

Inside Higher Ed - The Case for Reinstatement

Sunu P. Chandy, legal director of the National Women’s Law Center, which was involved in Tudor’s case, said that “denying professors tenure because they are transgender is sex discrimination,” and that those who win their related civil rights cases “must be permitted their jobs back if desired, and appropriate monetary damages.”

Advocate - How This Florida Woman’s Case Impacts LGBTQ+ Workplace Discrimination

“When you have cases of civil rights discrimination, the focus is on ‘Why is this employer treating this person this way?’” says Sunu Chandy, legal director for the National Women’s Law Center. (In disparate treatment cases / Versus whether an employee or applicant is “actually” LGTBQ)

Reuters - This lawsuit over religious education is really about race

The National Women’s Law Center and nearly 40 other advocacy groups submitted a brief in Tucker’s case arguing that the current formulation of the ministerial exception is a “drastic departure” from ordinary religious freedom jurisprudence and that employers are inappropriately expanding the exemption “at great cost to employees and society.”

Sunu Chandy, legal director at NWLC, told me that “too many employers are trying to avoid complying with civil rights laws including protections against race discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, overtime protection and more by wrongly claiming this narrow legal exception that is meant only for the hiring and firing of faith leaders.”

“This must stop,” Chandy said. “There is too much at stake here for those opposing racism or other discrimination, women, LGBTQ workers, and many others."

Florida Politics - Do LGBTQ protections apply to those fired over rumors? A Bradenton challenge could test case law.

Outside groups have taken an interest in the case for a variety of reasons. Sunu Chandy, legal director for the National Women’s Law Center, said the case could provide legal milestones in how discrimination protections apply. The Law Center houses the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. “I really want to commend (Leonard’s) courage in bringing this forward,” Chandy said. “There is clear sex discrimination here and clear retaliation here.” She said a legal interpretation of narrow employer protections regarding ministerial work cannot be allowed to extend to any hires for any religious organization. That broad interpretation has the potential to affect employees at charitable organizations and even some hospitals with a church affiliation. But it’s also important no employee have to prove their sexual orientation one way or the other to verify they were discriminated against because of it.”

SRQ Media - Bradenton Employment Case Tests Discrimination Protections

Sunu Chandy, legal director for the National Women’s Law Center that houses the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, in fact sees the case as a potential landmark civil rights case. She said a ruling will not only test what those discrimination provisions intend but also test religious exemptions. They exist for those considered ministers, which the church early on in the complaint process said include Leonard’s accounting and video editing roles. Chandy fears if that legal interpretation is allowed to stand, it will erase all discrimination for any religious organization like charities and even some hospitals. “They could define this more broadly, which makes us fear for anyone who works for any religiously affiliates employers,” Chandy said.

SNN News - Woman files discrimination case against Gospel Crusade Inc.

Sunu Chandy with the National Women’s Law Center says this is a clear case of sex discrimination. “Sometimes the discrimination is based on assumptions and stereotypes,” Chandy said. “The person may not even be from the LGBTQ community but is being discriminated against because of something someone thinks.”

Ms. Magazine - A New Era for Women: Biden’s Plan to Invest in Workers and Families

“Whether it’s the environment, women’s rights, economic justice—on every issue the Trump administration [came] down on the side of the powerful,” said Sunu Chandy, legal director of the National Women’s Law Center. “What we are looking for is a government that will be helpful to the people.”

NPR - WAMU The Kojo Nnamdi Show - What President Biden’s Recent Executive Orders Mean For LGBTQ Locals

President Biden’s executive order extending nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people has been widely celebrated by human rights advocates. We’ll talk about what these protections will actually look like in practice. And we’ll discuss the current status of the Equality Act — which would expand protections for LGBTQ people and others even further by making them federal law.

Ms. Magazine - “At This History-Making Moment, We Are Hopeful”: Feminist Lawmakers and Advocates React to the Biden-Harris Agenda for Women

Sunu Chandy, legal director of the National Women’s Law Center, is looking forward to an administration that will protect employee rights. 

“The Trump administration has gone out of its way to support the side of management against workers when it comes to labor and employment rights, the side of employers against employees and the side of those who wish to bring religious objections when they are in conflict with reproductive rights or LGBTQ rights,” said Chandy.

Bloomberg Law - EEOC Kroger Suit Shows Rift at Border of Religious Rights, Bias

The EEOC’s legal position opens up the question of whether religious liberties should trump other workplace protections, according to Sunu Chandy, legal director of the National Women’s Law Center.

“It’s giving a red carpet to employers that want religious objections or practices to take precedence over all of the other kinds of civil rights, without regard to harm to third parties or other coworkers, and this is out of sync with how these rights must be balanced,” Chandy said. “It really leads me to ask a lot of questions about what this lawsuit is all about. What was it trying to signal to larger communities?”

“Think about the next time when they say, ‘A same-sex couple is getting rung up in my line, I’m not going to take care of them,’” NWLC’s Chandy said of a hypothetical situation in which a same-sex couple is waiting in a grocery store check-out line. “This seems to be going down a road that is incredibly dangerous.”

GEN by Medium - The Conservative Power Couple Behind Trump’s War on Your Civil Rights

“The fact that Roger Severino did not wait for this highly anticipated decision… certainly undercuts his integrity as a lawyer, even putting aside the notion that the leader of a civil rights office should be seeking ways to use the law to provide protections instead of stripping them away,” said Sunu Chandy, legal director for the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), a legal advocacy group that has sued the Trump-era HHS and OCR over reproductive rights and access issues. (Chandy reported directly to Roger Severino in her previous role as former deputy director for civil rights at HHS.)

Verywell Health - Struggling With Your Mental Health at Work? You May Be Covered by the ADA

“While the specifics as to what's considered reasonable under the law will depend on the context, the fact remains, employers, must take disability rights laws into account when making employment decisions,” Sunu Chandy, legal director for the National Women’s Law Center, tells Verywell. “During this global pandemic it is particularly important that employers provide reasonable workplace accommodations for those who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 based on their disabilities, and for those whose mental health disabilities may have intensified given the various strands of stress related to this pandemic.”

NBC News - Trump's Supreme Court front-runners 'antithetical' to Ginsburg's legacy, critics say

“Just having a woman, any woman, does not cut it,” Sunu P. Chandy, legal director of the progressive National Women’s Law Center, told NBC News. “We need someone with deep civil rights experience and background if we are looking to fill the legacy of her seat on the court.”

Chandy, of the National Women's Law Center, called the judicial records of many Trump-appointed judges “troubling” and said she would be wary of any candidate put forward by the Trump administration because of its track record on LGBTQ rights. “Through the entirety of this administration, LGBTQ rights have been under attack — in housing, in schools, in the workplace,” Chandy said. “This administration has sought to take away rights in all of these arenas.”

WTMJ - TV - I-Team investigates after pregnant woman is denied additional unemployment pay

Attorney Sunu Chandy is the Legal Director for the National Women's Law Center. "It's a completely reasonable belief on her part. Why should I even bother to do this? We all know I am going to face pregnancy discrimination. It's so rampant," said Chandy.

Chandy said pregnant women are protected under the law and should apply to jobs knowing it's illegal for an employer to discriminate against them. She said Metoxen's case exposes other important conversations.

"It brings up a whole other host of work and family and balance and how the harm of that often falls on women," she continued. "Perhaps you are available to work if there was childcare available or if there was a fixed schedule," Chandy said.

Refinery29 - A Private Swim Club Was Accused Of Segregation. Then, It Disappeared From The Internet.

That is not to say that these exceptions make a perfect shelter of words for people to house discriminatory clubs built on exclusion. More often than not, private clubs are not actually as private as they think. “If everyone is invited to apply, that right off the bat tells me that this is not a private club no matter what they call it,” Sunu Chandy, Legal Director of the National Women’s Law Center, told Refinery29 after hearing the story of La Vacherie Swimming Club. Chandy then outlined the ways in which a court will look at an organization to establish if it is actually a private club or if it interacts with the world in which case, the legal concept of public accommodation comes into play.

“If you’re saying that anyone can apply, this is a place of public accommodation,” Chandy said. “This is a public space and so civil rights apply and you cannot be rejecting people based on race.”

ABC News - Department of Education sends mixed messages on transgender student protections

Sunu Chandy, the legal director at the National Women's Law Center, said the two moves by the department are "totally at odds."

"Do we applaud that someone won't be discriminated against based on sexual orientation from participating in sports? Absolutely. But we cannot do that without saying this other decision that excludes transgender students, essentially, is -- it's so harmful and so offensive to us, as it would be to transgender students," Chandy said.

"Transgender girls are girls. And we are for girls' rights," Chandy, of the National Women's Law Center, said.

New York Times - Washington N.F.L. Harassment Report Shocked Many, but Not Women

Sunu P. Chandy, the legal director for the National Women’s Law Center, said league and team leaders should immediately re-evaluate and change how they run their male-dominated workplaces, including by installing multiple mechanisms to report harassment and abuse so that every employee can be comfortable at work every day.

“If I was in charge of the N.F.L., I would be asking myself, ‘What kind of culture are we creating here with any team affiliated with us?’” she said, adding that leaders can, and should, decide to be a force for good and not just remain complacent.

Channel 9 CBS - 'Requires a culture change' | National Women's Law Center reacts to allegations against Washington's NFL team

After reading through the report, National Women's Law Center Legal Director Sunu Chandy highlighted how the former employees said the team allegedly only had one full-time human resources staff member for more than 220 full-time employees. 

"How can you actually have an impactful human resources department or complaint review process without staffing that up?" Chandy said. "It really gives rise to a culture where this is condoned, accepted and part of the environment.”

"The people who are in the most powerful positions need to make clear to their workforce as a whole what kind of workplace it’s going to be," she said. "That means having more than one person in HR. That means going back to someone who brought a complaint and saying did this work out? Is this continuing? How can we be helpful? You can’t do that with one person in HR.” 

Education Week - Supreme Court Narrows Employment Protections for Parochial School Teachers

Sunu P. Chandy, the legal director of the National Women's Law Center, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the teachers, lamented that the decision gives a "blank check" to religious employers to discriminate. "This is a very unhelpful and dangerous decision for workers' civil rights protections," said Chandy, who co-wrote the brief that was also signed by numerous other groups including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. The decision will be far-reaching for teachers in religious schools, the majority of whom are women, she said.

NPR’s On Point - LGBTQ Workplace Protections: Analyzing The Supreme Court's Landmark Ruling (June 16, 2020)

CSPAN - Discussion of Supreme Court Oral Argument - Ministerial Exemption Cases - Religious Organizations and Discrimination Claims (May 11, 2020)

Ms. Magazine - August 2017, without any public notice or opportunity to weigh in, the administration reversed Obama’s executive order and blocked the income data collection, claiming that it was “unnecessarily burdensome” for businesses. In fact, it’s not at all burdensome to report, says Sunu Chandy, legal director of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). “These are large companies with great computer systems and all kinds of information that they are required to keep about how much they pay people, and they are already providing information about who’s in what jobs based on race… and sex, so this is just an overlay of two systems that they are already keeping,” she explains. NWLC sued the administration to require collection of the data. Joined by Democracy Forward and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, NWLC won a huge victory in Washington, D.C., in March 2019 when U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan ruled that the administration broke the law when it stopped the income data collection; she ordered the EEOC to require employers to submit the data. 

New York Times - This decision was so powerful because it says you don’t need quote-unquote additional facts,” said Sunu Chandy, the legal director of the National Women’s Law Center, one of the groups that participated. “You don’t need additional people. Sexual assault is a gender-based crime. And that very simple, powerful comment is what the law should be.”

Rewire - “Now, in July 2019, as the legal director of the National Women’s Law Center, I am joined by over 30 women’s rights organizations in filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to confirm that our existing federal civil rights protections against sex discrimination in the workplace cannot exclude LGBTQ workers, no matter where one lives in the country. Sex- and gender-based assumptions, or what is known in legal phrasing as sex stereotypes, have no place in employment decisions.”

New York Times - “It’s long overdue to treat rape in the marital setting with the same seriousness as rape that occurs outside of it,” said Sunu Chandy, the legal director for the National Women’s Law Center. “I’m glad to see Minnesota is making strides in that direction, and I hope other states will follow suit.”

MarketWatch - Sunu Chandy, legal director of the National Women’s Law Center, told MarketWatch the ruling was a clear-cut win. “Allowing more pay data transparency is quite likely to lead to greater civil-right enforcement because you have more information,” Chandy said.

The Guardian - Already, the decision to move forward with a charge carries a lot of weight. To then add delays and office closures could lead to fewer filings and less civil rights enforcement, said Sunu P Chandy, the legal director of the National Women’s Law Center who served as an EEOC federal attorney from 1999 to 2014.“These are the lives and stories of trusting people who are believing that the law can bring a positive change in society and that they can get some justice for themselves,” said Chandy.

Ms. Magazine - The Supreme Court ruled in 1986 that sexually harassing behavior must be “severe or pervasive” in order to violate Title VII….Courts have interpreted this vague standard in varying ways, in some cases dismissing claims involving “really egregious” behavior, says Sunu Chandy of the National Women’s Law Center.

NPR/WAMU - During the Obama Administration, her office worked to ensure that medical providers did not discriminate against their patients on the basis of sex — including discrimination against LGBTQ individuals.

Mother Jones - “It’s obviously a form of sex discrimination,” Sunu Chandy, legal director of the NWLC, told Mother Jones. “Whether or not your health care needs are paid for should not depend on the religious views of your boss. We’re confident that that will be found to be illegal.” 

Huffington Post - Even though you likely won’t get legal or financial recompense for being harassed in this case, it’s still worth alerting your harasser’s current employer in order to protect the women he works with now, Chandy said. “The question is, what’s the purpose of coming forward? If the reason is to alert other individuals to this problem, then it doesn’t matter how long has gone by,” she told HuffPost.  “You may or may not get [justice]. But if you don’t come forward, you definitely won’t get it,” Chandy added.   

Politico - But Sunu Chandy, who was a trial attorney at the EEOC’s New York office from 1999-2014, said unions remained resistant to litigating complaints that they didn’t regard as “traditional” labor issues, such as pay and benefits. Union locals, she said, would slow-walk sexual harassment claims.  “It seemed to me when these issues played out, sexual harassment was not on the top of the list,” said Chandy, now legal director at the National Women’s Law Center. “If there was sexual or racial harassment, it wasn’t taken as seriously.” 

USA Today - One way to ensure that cases of harassment make an impact on both an individual and a company is to revisit the often-required signing of non-disclosure agreements, said Sunu Chandy, legal director of the National Women’s Law Center.  Chandy notes that such documents can often keep women from connecting with others like them who are victims of the same person or company. “It’s swept under the rug, and they can’t find each other,” she said.   

Buzzfeed - “Employers have to balance these pieces, but I think they have erred on the side of not communicating important information to the individual who came forward,” Sunu Chandy, legal director of the National Women's Law Center, told BuzzFeed News. “But obviously employees talk,” she noted, and lack of communication could cause other harassment victims to ponder: “Why should I bring it up? My coworker brought it up and never heard back, so they don't care.” 

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights

Selected Highlights

  • HHS OCR Goals and Objectives - see pages 23-25 for 2016-2017 civil rights highlights

  • Agreement to Protect Patients with HIV/AIDS from Discrimination

  • Agreement to Ensure Effective Communication

  • Agreement to Ensure Availability of Language Assistance Services for Individuals with LEP

  • Guidance Ensuring Accessibility - Electronic Information Technology

  • Child Welfare Guidance (no longer linked but summary below)

In October 2016, in partnership with the HHS Administration on Children and Families (ACF), and the Department of Justice (DOJ), OCR issued a joint technical assistance letter to state and local child welfare agencies and state court systems on the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance. The Title VI/Child Welfare technical assistance was released as part of an ongoing partnership between HHS OCR, HHS ACF and DOJ to help child welfare agencies protect the welfare of children and ensure compliance with civil rights laws. This technical assistance continues OCR’s inter-agency partnership efforts, following on similar joint technical assistance guidance that the three agencies issued in August 2015 to clarify the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

WAMU 88.5 | AMERICAN UNIVERSITY RADIO

Workers Recount Life Under Trump: ‘They Were Doing A Purge’

Whether it’s about language access or about healthcare for transgender individuals, you have so much opportunity to do good within the federal government,” says Chandy. / “We now had leaders who had been activists against the very mission that we stood for,” says Chandy. Chandy admits it wasn’t easy. “I was in tears when I would go to work for that year,” says Chandy. To cope, Chandy started an underground support group for federal workers. They met in restaurants and, later, a church basement as word got around and membership swelled. The meetings were sworn to secrecy. This is the first time Chandy has spoken publicly about the group. “What were we afraid of? Someone’s going to say we’re not being loyal to this leader,” she says.

District of Columbia - Office of Human Rights(OHR)

U.S.  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) - New York District Office

SELECTED CASES

Disability discrimination / failure to provide accommodations

Home Depot -  Allowing a Job Coach as a Reasonable Accommodation

The commission had accused the retail giant in a federal lawsuit of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 by failing to notify the woman's coach of disciplinary problems. It said that measure should have been taken under the "reasonable accommodations" provision of the law. "This decree is significant because it sends a message to those who employ the disabled that mental disabilities have to be accommodated just as well as physical disabilities," said Sunu Chandy, the commission lawyer who handled the case for the New York district office.  Clearinghouse

New York Times Coverage of the Consent Decree resolution

National Origin discrimination / harassment

Plaza Hotel – (Post 9/11 harassment)

Sunu P. Chandy, EEOC New York Senior Trial Attorney, said, "The EEOC takes very seriously allegations of harassment based on religion and/or national origin. The EEOC will continue to vigorously pursue such cases. We are proud of these brave employees who stepped forward to the EEOC to report the harassment. We are likewise pleased that the Fairmont hotel management entities have agreed to implement improved procedures to train their managers and employees at 14 hotels nationwide that should assist in preventing future discrimination.".   EEOC

national origin discrimination / Language related discrimination

Highland Hospital – “English-Only” case  

Sunu Chandy is a senior Trial Attorney in the EEOC's New York office. She says Highland has instituted an English-only, no Spanish policy. Chandy says the policy applied to housekeeping staff with limited English ability, and this caused confusion on the job. She says it was a blanket policy throughout the hospital, and was applied in a discriminatory fashion, targeting Spanish-speaking employees. In one case, the EEOC charges Spanish-speaking employees were penalized for saying "Hasta la Vista" after punching out for the day.  WXXI News

Related NPR Interview- https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=11008747

Religious discrimination / failure to provide Accommodations

ConocoPhillips

EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Sunu P. Chandy added, “Employers are obligated to explore reasonable alternative arrangements to attempt to accommodate religious beliefs. There are many avenues available, including shift swapping, flexible scheduling to allow an employee to take off a portion of a work day to attend religious services, the transfer of an employee to a different assignment, or allowing an employee to take vacation time or unpaid leave.”    EEOC.GOV

Grand Central Partnership

Sunu P. Chandy, senior trial attorney in the EEOC’s New York District Office, added, “Employers are obligated to explore how they may accommodate employees’ or applicants’ religious beliefs. In addition to time off for religious services, this may also include accommodations such as allowing time and space for prayer during the workday or, as in this case, making adjustments to grooming and uniform policies.”  EEOC.GOV

United Health Programs

“While religious or spiritual practices may indeed provide comfort and community to many people, it is critical to be aware that federal law prohibits employers from coercing employees to take part in them,” Sunu Chandy, senior trial attorney at the commission, said in a statement.  reuters.com

Vonage

"They just were not working with him to accommodate him, said Sunu P. Chandy, senior trial attorney at the EEOC's New York office. "An employer has to accommodate their employees' religious needs unless it causes undue hardship. This was a six-week training program, and I would find it very hard to believe that missing two days of a six-week training program would cause the company an undue hardship."   njjewishnews.com

Tri-County Lexus

Press release:   EEOC    Sikh Coalition

Racial and National-Origin Based Harassment

Benenson Rehabilitation Pavilion

“The EEOC commends the five charging parties for their courage in bringing this matter to our attention,” said EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Sunu P. Chandy. “Cases involving race and national origin are EEOC priorities.”   EEOC.GOV

Books for Less

"The retaliation was very severe," said Sunu P. Chandy, an EEOC senior trial attorney in New York. "It involved discrimination and writeups without reason. But it got even worse. [Managers] were even calling the employees' homes to intimidate their children."   post-gazette.com

Racial Harassment & Same-Sex Sexual Harassment

Slavin & Sons

The New York Times - U.S. Suit Says Fish Seller Harassed Black Male Workers

“This is the kind of case that makes your stomach turn,” said Sunu P. Chandy, the lead federal lawyer on the case. This represents a relatively new area for the commission, said Ms. Chandy. “It’s kind of the intersection of race and sex as it relates to men of color,” she said. The commission has had other lawsuits in which both gender and race were factors behind the discrimination or harassment, but those cases almost always involved minority women, she said.

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“Thanks to Kevin Pierson’s EEOC charge and this lawsuit, employees at M. Slavin will now be able to work in an environment free from discrimination,” said Sunu P. Chandy, a senior trial attorney in the EEOC's New York District Office. “If an incident does occur, there will be an objective investigation into these complaints. The EEOC is grateful to all individuals who stepped forward, despite their fears of retaliation, to assist us in the prosecution of this matter.”  eeoc.gov   eeoc.gov

"The stunning facts of this case remind us of an ugly time in our nations history," said Sunu Chandy with the EEOC. "The actions of these white owners, who subjected particularly men of color to horrendous physical and sexual harassment and racial comments, must be challenged."  nbcnewyork.com

Sex discrimination / sexual harassment

Nichols Gas & Oil

EEOC prevailed in a sexual harassment case following its successor liability motion to hold a new corporate entity legally liable as a successor defendant for sexual harassment of nine women that took place before its ownership by the previous owner. This matter ultimately resulted in a settled resolution of monetary relief and a ten-year Consent Decree applicable to the former owner.

Dollar Bright

The EEOC charged that Samera Khalid, a former cashier at Dollar Bright, was subjected to grabbing, sexual touching, and other inappropriate and unwanted physical contact as well as sexual comments from her store supervisor an Indian by birth and that Dollar Bright fired Samera after she complained about the harassment.  Samera worked there for about five months last year, during which time the supervisor harassed her verbally as well as physically, said Sunu Chandy, the trial attorney. When Samera’s father complained to the top management, they said that the supervisor was an important employee of the organization and so they would not take any action against him. And they suggested Samera should leave the job. All of this conduct violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin and protects employees who complain about such offenses from retaliation. 

According to the U.S. Southern District Court of New York, the company has agreed to take active steps to provide for greater protection from workplace harassment, including training regarding discrimination and harassment for all supervisors, managers and employees and implementing a comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Policy and Complaint Procedure at over 40 stores where U.S. Dream provides management services. Additionally, the companies will compensate Khalid $25,000.  Chandy said that normally the EEOC, a government body, does not hear individual cases. But, since Samera’s case involved making a point about the issue in the South Asian community, they decided to take it up. The most significant aspect here is that is that the EEOC does not make inquiries into the immigration status of complainants.   911digitalarchive.org

Carrols Corporation (team of attorneys) -

Carrols Corporation, the world's largest Burger King franchisee, will pay $2.5 million and take significant remedial steps to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The lawsuit alleged discrimination against 89 female employees around the country, many of whom were teenagers when they worked for Carrols.  EEOC.GOV

Related Press: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2004/04/huge_harassment_suit_targets_c.html

Le Bar Bat    

Press:  Newsday   NY Times     

Court Ruling Re Retaliation:   leagle.com

Sex discrimination / pay and promotion

Morgan Stanley (team of attorneys) 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MWD) today announced a $54 million settlement of a sex discrimination lawsuit under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act filed on behalf of a class of female officers and women eligible for officer promotion in the firm's Institutional Equity Division. As part of the settlement, at least $2 million will be provided for diversity programs designed to enhance the compensation and promotional opportunities for female employees within Morgan Stanley.  EEOC.GOV

Age Discrimination

PJP Health Services, Inc -

 "Our hope is that supervisors, particularly younger ones, as was the case here, do not continue to feel emboldened to harass and terminate older employees, but rather become informed that this conduct violates federal law," said EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Sunu P. Chandy.  "We are proud of these older workers who risked much to come forward to challenge this type of illegal workplace behavior."  EEOC.GOV

Nassau County Police Department

“The EEOC hopes this settlement encourages employers to think twice before subtly or overtly pushing senior employees towards retirement in order to save money, or for any other illegal purpose based on age,” said Sunu P. Chandy, the EEOC attorney on the case.

Arthur D’Alessandro, one of the charging parties added, “This experience has been disheartening and embarrassing to our reputations. We all dedicated our lives to this profession and we deserve to be treated with dignity instead of being humiliated in this way. We appreciate the efforts of the EEOC staff that spent many hours resolving our case. It is good to know that because of the efforts of this agency, others in our position will not be treated this way.”   EEOC.GOV

Eaton’s Neck Fire District

EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Sunu P. Chandy added, “It is honorable when people like Peter Farrell have the courage to pursue their civil rights, both in terms of standing up for their own dignity and furthering the cause of justice on behalf of their colleagues. The EEOC appreciates people like Mr. Farrell who bring these kinds of issues forward to our agency’s attention so that the federal government can vigorously pursue these matters in the benefit of the public interest.   EEOC.GOV

 

 
 
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