Sex-Based Scheduling Suit Sparks Review of Title VII Limitation

Female officers will ask the full Fifth Circuit Tuesday to reinstate a lawsuit accusing the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department of using an illegal gender-based scheduling policy that allows only their male colleagues to take full weekends off.

Their case presses the court to consider reversing precedent that limits Title VII actions to employer practices that qualify as “ultimate employment decisions” such as hiring, granting leave, discharging, promoting, or compensating. That precedent wrongly narrows Title VII’s broad protections, the women say, citing recent rulings in the Sixth Circuit and D.C. Circuit overturning similar ultimate-employment-decision requirements.

Attorneys for the county counter that ...