Court Opinion

ID: 9489763
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:23:30.631421+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:42.071467
License: Public Domain

DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur1 in the results reached by my colleagues in this matter. I write separately, however, to encourage the legislative branch of our federal government to recognize as well that the realities of today’s global marketplace no longer justify distinguishing between “employees” and “partners” in all instances.
In an era of small, closely-operated partnerships, it may have been logical to conclude that an employer/partner could not and would not discriminate in employment decisions against himself or herself or against a close friend and business associate. In a world-wide organization like Ernst & Young that employs almost 2200 “partners,” however, the nominal co-owners of the company are, by necessity, so far removed from the seat of actual power as to be subject to the reach of the invidious acts that employment discrimination statutes seek to remedy. Only by statutory modifications redefining the class of individuals to be protected from *446such mistreatment can we ensure that hiring, promotion, and firing decisions are undertaken with proper-regard for the law of the land.