Tim Garrett, Bass Berry & Sims' always-interesting blogger, writes about the so-called "cat's paw theory" on the firm's Tennessee Labor Talk blog site.

Garrett (pictured), who specializes in labor law issues, explains why employers should be aware of recent decisions related to discrimination liability. Those cases, he says, can make an employer liable "even though the ultimate decision-maker was not biased and did not act on any unlawful bias." Read more here.

Two Nashville-area men have filed a class-action racial discrimination suit against the makers of the popular Bachelor and Bachelorette TV series. Noted Nashville civil rights attorney George Barrett is among those representing the men, who are both former college football players.

Of his audition to be on the show Claybrooks said, “I noticed that the guys in front of me — the white males in front of me — took maybe 45 minutes to an hour, but I went up it took me maybe 15, 20 minutes. They rushed me through. They made me do a 360-degree turn. Once I did that, my interview was over.”

Saying they have "trouble seeing the downside of [a] limited class action treatment," Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judges have ruled that a group of African-American Merrill Lynch investment brokers can move forward with a class action that alleges the firm's teaming-up policies created a discriminatory environment. Nashville broker George McReynolds first filed suit against Merrill in 2005. His case was turned down two summers ago by a Chicago District Court judge.