Eric Dreiband

Early life and education

Career

Notable cases

• In 2002, Dreiband was part of the team on the Equal Employment Opportunity Company that sued Chicago meat processing company Carl Buddig & Co. for not hiring black people at its Chicago and South Holland meat processing plants and for limiting higher pay opportunities for women. The company settled and agreed to pay US$2.5 million and reform its hiring practices.
• González v. Abercrombie & Fitch – in 2004, he represented the EEOC in a lawsuit against retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. The company was accused of discriminating against African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and women by preferentially offering floor sales positions and store management positions to white males. The company agreed to a settlement of the class-action suit.
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores – he represented Abercrombie & Fitch in a lawsuit filed in 2009 in U.S. District Court by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In June 2008, 17-year-old Samantha Elauf, who wears a hijab due to her religious beliefs, applied for a sales position at an Abercrombie Kids store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She claimed the manager told her the headscarf violates the store's "Look Policy". The United States Supreme Court ruled 8–1 against the company in 2015.
• In 2016, Dreiband defended the University of North Carolina in its choice to abide by the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act that had been passed earlier that year. The statewide law disallowed people from using public bathrooms corresponding to the gender with which they identify; it was repealed in March 2017.