Is teaching 7th grade harder than teaching 3rd grade? Is a transfer from a high school principal’s position to the central office a “materially adverse” change? What about a school security guard’s move from a high school to a middle school?

Those are some of the questions lower courts have faced in the context of employment discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In each of those cases, the courts ruled that the job transfer did not result in a significant disadvantage, and thus the plaintiff’s case ended at an early stage, before he or she had a chance to prove the alleged discriminatory conduct. Read More …