A unanimous Supreme Court has ruled that circumstantial evidence alone can convict companies of discrimination, as long as there's enough to convince a reasonable jury.
The 9-0 decision Monday overrode the Bush administration, which had urged the court to side with the Las Vegas casino company, Caesars Palace, in a discrimination case involving a female former forklift operator.
The administration wanted to make it more difficult to sue under a federal anti-discrimination law.
Catharina Costa claimed she was fired from an all-male warehouse because of her sex and other reasons as well. A jury agreed and ordered Caesars Palace to pay her more than $364,000.
The casino company, backed by business groups along with the administration, urged the justices to require workers like Costa to provide direct evidence of discrimination, which requires proof based on personal knowledge or observation. Such evidence can be difficult to produce.
An employee "need only present sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude, by a preponderance of the evidence, that `race, color, religion, sex or national origin was a motivating factor for any employment practice,'" Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in siding with Costa.
Eric Schnapper, a University of Washington law school professor who represented Costa, said the ruling should make companies pay more attention to discrimination complaints.
"Now it's going to be easier to win these cases. Employers are going to have to be careful about their practices," Schnapper said.
Robert Stewart, spokesman for Park Place Entertainment, the parent company for Caesars, said the Supreme Court seemed to change the rules for lawsuits. "It appears that many employers accused of workplace discrimination will be considered guilty until they can prove themselves innocent," he said.
Costa claimed she was stalked and treated differently because of her sex before she was fired in 1994.
The case is Desert Palace Inc. v. Costa, 02-679.