Fox4 News Interviews Shook Partner William Martucci on Supreme Court Decision Impacting the Workforce

Fox4 News interviewed Shook Partner Bill Martucci about the landmark Supreme Court decision that will protect approximately seven million lesbian, gay and transgender employees in the workplace.

By a vote of 6-3, the court said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, also covers sexual orientation and transgender status. Martucci, who leads the firm’s national Employment Litigation and Policy Practice, told Fox4 there likely could be legal challenges in the future.

“The court said that’s for another day and that’s probably where the challenge comes in terms of protocols and the proper approaches that employers believe are in place,” said Martucci. “There will be a lot of discussion about that, and I’m optimistic that for many employers, they’ll deal with it well.”

Martucci told Fox 4 that some cities, including Kansas City, already have laws protecting LGBTQ people from workplace discrimination.

“The reality is, don’t we want a workplace that’s diverse? Don’t we want to it to be inclusive? This is another step in that regard,” Martucci said. “I understand it’s going to be a challenge in a lot of workplaces, but I think when we look back just a few years from now, we’ll be very pleased by how successful we were and how many great contributions were made by people of all backgrounds.”