High Court Won’t Take Up ‘Tender Back’ Issue In Sex Bias Case

The U.S. Supreme Court won’t take up an appeal by a company that thinks a former worker should have returned her severance pay before pursuing pregnancy bias claims in court.

Fired workers often need their severance money for bills and living expenses while they pursue another job, the Sixth Circuit said last summer. The common law tender-back doctrine therefore shouldn’t be read into Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act or the Equal Pay Act, as it would discourage workers from pursuing their workplace rights, the court said.

Tendering back requires a person to return compensation received under a ...