7th Circuit To Revisit Title VII Sexual Orientation Discrimination Ruling

By Vida L. Thomas

On October 11, 2016, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals granted en banc (by the full court) review in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College. This rare move means that the entire Seventh Circuit court will reconsider its previous decision, which was originally issued on July 28, 2016.

Kimberly Hively began teaching as a part-time adjunct professor at Ivy Tech Community College in 2000.  In 2013, representing herself, she filed a complaint in district court alleging that she had been blocked from full-time employment at Ivy Tech because of her sexual orientation, in violation of Title VII.  Hively alleged that although she had the necessary qualifications for full-time employment and had never received a negative evaluation, Ivy Tech refused to even interview her for any of the six full-time positions for which she applied between 2009 and 2014.