During the United States Supreme Court’s 2014-2015 term, the Court departed from the pro-business reputation it had developed in labor and employment cases. This term, employees prevailed more often than not, including in several key cases. However, the Court also issued a handful of decisions that were favorable to employers.
In spite of the different outcomes this term, the Justices followed last year’s trend in showing a remarkable degree of unity in many of the employment-related cases. Of the 11 employment-related decisions during the 2014-2015 term, six were unanimous or virtually unanimous (i.e., with a vote of 8 to 1), and two were by a vote of 6 to 3. Moreover, the three employment-related decisions that were decided by a 5 to 4 vote were not strictly employment cases, but rather, civil rights or other cases with employment implications. Some of these cases, such as the same-sex marriage decision (Obergefell), were perhaps unsurprising in their divisiveness.
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