Supreme Court to Decide Whether Title IX Covers Employee Discrimination Claims

Supreme Court to Decide Whether Title IX Covers Employee Discrimination Claims

On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide an important Title IX question for federally funded educational institutions: whether employees of schools, colleges, and universities that receive federal financial assistance may bring private employment-discrimination claims directly under Title IX.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 provides that “[n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Although many people associate Title IX with equal athletic participation opportunities, the statute also reaches other forms of sex-based discrimination in covered educational programs and activities, including sexual harassment, sexual assault and other sexual misconduct, and retaliation for reporting or opposing sex-based discrimination. While employees have long had the right to pursue workplace sex-discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, those claims are subject to Title VII’s administrative-exhaustion process, EEOC framework, limitations periods, and damages caps.

The case, Crowther v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, arises from the Eleventh Circuit and presents a question that has divided the federal courts of appeals: whether Title IX’s private right of action extends to employees asserting employment-discrimination claims against their educational employers. Although private Title IX claims are well-established for students and other participants in federally funded education programs or activities, the Eleventh Circuit held that Title IX does not create a private right of action for employees asserting employment-discrimination claims. The question in Crowther is whether those employees may also sue directly under Title IX.

The potential consequences are significant. If the Court agrees with the Eleventh Circuit, employment-based sex-discrimination claims by employees of federally funded educational institutions would likely be foreclosed under Title IX, leaving those claims to proceed through Title VII or applicable state and local anti-discrimination laws. If the Court goes the other way, it could establish an alternative pathway for employees of federally funded public and private educational institutions to assert workplace sex-discrimination claims directly under Title IX, potentially without Title VII’s exhaustion requirements or damages caps.

Although Title IX is often associated with athletics, the issue before the Court is broader. The decision could affect federally funded K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and other covered educational institutions in employment disputes involving faculty, coaches, administrators, staff, and other employees of the institution.

Educational institutions that receive federal financial assistance should be watching this case closely.

For more information, please contact Panza Maurer attorney Jay Horton (jhorton@panzamaurer.com).