Dive Brief:
- A judge denied SHRM’s request for a new trial in Mohamed v. SHRM, according to a court document filed Wednesday.
- The lawsuit was filed in 2022 by a self-described “brown-skinned Egyptian Arab woman” who previously worked at SHRM and alleged favorable treatment of White colleagues by supervisors. The case went to trial late last year, with a jury ultimately awarding the worker $11.5 million in damages.
- According to the order, SHRM had argued that the plaintiff failed to establish that she was terminated due to discrimination, that she did not engage in protected activity relevant to her retaliation claim, and that the organization had legitimate reasons for her termination. Ultimately, the judge upheld the verdict, maintaining SHRM’s arguments were “unconvincing in face of the evidence presented at trial.”
Dive Insight:
“The Court’s recent Order is a routine procedural step in the appellate process and simply reaffirms its prior ruling. SHRM strongly disagrees with both the trial outcome and this Order, and we will move forward with our appeal,” Eddie Burke, SHRM’s director of media affairs, told HR Dive via email. “SHRM maintains that the case has no merit and the jury’s decision — and the Order affirming it — are not supported by the facts or the law.”
SHRM asked for a new trial in February, arguing the presiding judge had issued an erroneous jury instruction and permitted evidence that should have been inadmissible, including testimony from a different employee alleging racial discrimination. In a statement provided to HR Dive at the time, the HR organization said, “We respect the judicial process and have every confidence in the facts supporting our newly filed legal arguments.”
SHRM has strongly denied the allegations since the lawsuit was filed.
In 2024, when the judge denied SHRM’s request for summary judgment, the judge noted that “this is a messy employment discrimination case” — a statement that underscored the importance of proper HR documentation.
