Brown v. City of Houston

Holding that unsubstantiated assertions, improbable inferences, and unsupported speculation are not sufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment

Willis v. Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc.

Finding no preemption of state law defamation claim where plaintiff was placed on restrictive work leave for positive drug testing, because the claim did not require interpretation of the CBA, even though the CBA governed plaintiffs employment and included a substance abuse policy

Browning v. Southwest Research Institute

Finding no material adverse conduct for purposes of retaliation claim after employer made "humiliating" and "demeaning" statements such as calling employee "crazy"

Brobst v. Columbus Services Intern

Holding that district court erred in "convert[ing] an in limine motion into one for summary judgment, []without the procedural protections of notice which the federal rules require before judgment on the merits may be granted"

Fields v. Stephen F. Austin State Univ.

Finding no Fifth Circuit case law holding that a Section 1983 claim based on a violation of equal protection rights (as opposed to a Title VII claim) may be brought for creation of a hostile work environment due to race

Yant v. United States

In Yant, a group of nurse practitioners at the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA") sued the government, alleging that it violated the EPA by paying nurse practitioners (around 80% of whom were women) less than physician assistants (around 60% of whom were men) despite the jobs' equivalence.

Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. TXI Operations, L.P.

Holding that an employee who has a more elevated job responsibility than the plaintiff is not similarly situated with the plaintiff even if that employee works in the same department with the same job title

Shanshan Zhan v. Univ. of Miss. Med. Ctr.

Section 1620.13 - "Equal Work"-What it means

Recognizing that application of the equal pay standard is a fact-intensive inquiry that must be determined on a case-by-case basis