Cara Wessels Wells v. Texas Tech University, et al.

Respondents, a public research university and two of its employees, allegedly discriminated against Petitioner because of her sex while she was a student, graduate student, and Mentor at Respondent university from 2009 to 2022. App. 89, 130. The Fifth Circuit held that Petitioner was an employee only during her graduate studies, which ended in 2017. App. 12. In holding that she was not an employee for purposes of Title VII thereafter, the Court applied a strict standard requiring remuneration. App. 10-11. The Court then reasoned that her claims, which arose from misconduct ending prior to the applicable 300- day deadline, were time-barred. App. 10. Accordingly, the question presented is: 1. Does an unpaid position qualify someone to be an “employee” within the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(f)?