The Nyemaster Goode On Brief Appellate Blog has a recent article on the Iowa Supreme Court setting a new standard in employment law cases. The court’s decision should help provide employers with an additional defense in discrimination cases.

The Court adopted a new standard for cases where an employee claims discrimination was a motivating factor in his or her firing, allowing the employer to offer evidence that it would have made the same decision to terminate the employee, even if discrimination was not a motivating factor.

In the process, the court reversed a $4.5 million verdict and an award of $856,954 in front pay and attorneys’ fees.

As a side note coming from a lawyer that’s been blogging on legal issues since 2006, I love the fact that the Nyemaster Goode firm and several other Iowa law firms have fully embraced legal blogging. It is absolutely great when our profession decides to educate the public and help people identify issues that may impact them.