Hopkins v. Price Waterhouse
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
920 F.2d 967 (D.C. Cir. 1990)
Hopkins (plaintiff), a senior manager at Price Waterhouse (PW) (defendant) with strong performance reviews, was denied partnership after reviewers criticized her as interpersonally abrasive in explicitly gendered terms, including advice that she should act and dress more femininely. After the Supreme Court agreed sex discrimination occurred but remanded for use of a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard on PW's affirmative defense, the trial court found PW failed to show it would have denied her partnership regardless of discrimination and ordered PW to make her a partner; PW appealed, arguing courts lack authority to order partnership elevation as a remedy even for a proven Title VII violation.
Whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorizes court-ordered elevation to partnership as a remedy for the discriminatory denial of partnership.