Non-traditional Plaintiff Theme Continues

At the start of 2011, I noted that one of the stories of the year might be that more and more of what I would call non-traditional plaintiffs would be filing discrimination suits. See, 2011 ---- the Year of the Non-minority?

It seems that trend is continuing in 2012, including the following examples:

• Male FBI special agent 'wanna be', claims sex discrimination, Lawsuit: He failed FBI agent test by 1 pushup
• After the City's governing board  in West Point, Missippi changed racial composition, the result was,  Court Determines White Utility Employees Have Some Worth Claimy Claims Against City, ($)
• A white Illinois Police sergeant who sent an email to 16 co-workers describing 11 fictious Barbie Dolls caricaturing stereotypical women was suspended and unsuccessfully argued he would have been more leniently disciplined if he had been black, White Police Officer Disciplined for Email Fails to Raise Race Bias Claim, Court Affirms, ($)

The last two courtesy of the BNA Daily Labor Report.

One common denominator between these three is that they are all governmental defendants. Public sector employers may be more susceptible to such claims, but all employers ought to be aware.