SCOTUS Won’t Review Whether Texas Tech Worker Was an ‘Employee’

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Texas Tech University mentor program participant’s challenge to the dismissal of her sex discrimination and harassment lawsuit based on her lack of pay.

A decision by the justices in the case would have clarified federal anti-bias protections for interns, graduate student researchers, volunteer firefighters, and other unpaid workers. It would have also resolved a circuit split on the issue.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Cara Wessels Wells’ Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act claims because she failed to allege that she ...