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Atoyia Harris

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Atoyia Harris serves as special employment law counsel in the Labor and Employment Law Department, the administrative leader of Proskauer’s Discrimination, Harassment, & Title VII Practice Group, co-chair of Proskauer’s Black Lawyer Affinity Group, and member of the Women’s Alliance Steering Committee.

As a litigator with more than a decade of experience, Atoyia approaches each matter strategically to provide the best result for her clients and helps companies respond to workplace crisis situations. She has successfully defended matters on a wide variety of high-stakes and complex issues in various jurisdictions and forums at the trial and appellate levels. Atoyia utilizes her litigation experience to advise clients on ways to mitigate risks prior to litigation. She also conducts investigations and trainings on issues related to discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other employment-related matters. Her practice includes counseling clients on employment and separation agreements, reductions-in-force, the WARN Act, employment policies, internal investigations, and issues arising out of social movements such as the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, and other sensitive employment issues.

Active in the legal community, Atoyia serves as an executive board member of the Young Lawyers Board for the Federal Bar Association’s New Orleans Chapter and member of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel. She previously served as the Chair of the National Defense Research Institute’s 2023 Diversity for Success Seminar, executive board member of the Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Society, President of the Vernon Crawford Bay Area Bar Association, and in other leadership capacities throughout her legal career.

Atoyia received her J.D. with an International Law Certification from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. Atoyia served on the Moot Court Board and staff member of the Loyola Law and Technology Journal. While in law school, Atoyia interned as a law clerk for the Honorable Jay C. Zainey at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Honorable Robin Giarrusso at the Orleans Parish Civil District Court. Atoyia was also a member of the award-wining Robert F. Wagner Labor and Employment Moot Court Team.

Prior to law school, Atoyia received her Bachelor of Music in Industry Studies with emphasis in classical piano from Loyola University New Orleans and was member of the Loyola University women’s basketball team.

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On April 19, 2024, the EEOC published its final rule regarding the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”). The PWFA requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees or candidates with a known limitation related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions absent undue hardship.

The final rule effectively tracks the proposed rule, which…

In Harris v. FedEx Corp. Servs., Inc., No. 23-2003, a Fifth Circuit panel vacated a $365 million punitive damages award in race discrimination and retaliation case, finding that the plaintiff Jennifer Harris (“Harris”) failed to show that Fedex Corporate Services, Inc. (“Fedex”) acted with malice or reckless indifference when it terminated her for poor…

On August 18, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit expanded the types of employment actions that may constitute “adverse employment action” under Title VII in Hamilton v. Dallas Cnty., 5th Cir. en banc. No. 21-10133, 8/18/23. Overruling its nearly 30-year precedent that actionable employment actions under Title VII must relate to “ultimate employment decisions,” the Fifth Circuit held that a plaintiff need only show that they were discriminated against with respect to hiring, firing, compensation, or the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, even if such actions were not ultimate employment actions.

On March 31, 2022, a Kentucky jury unanimously awarded $450,000 to an employee, who was terminated following two panic attacks the employee suffered at work. The jury concluded the employee’s anxiety disorder was a disability and that the employee suffered an adverse action because of his disability.

Brief Background

In Berling v. Gravity Diagnostics, LLC…

On March 11, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment, dismissing a Texas city employee’s claim that he had been unlawfully terminated from his job because of his age. The Fifth Circuit held that age discrimination comments must contain age-specific references, and a factfinder cannot infer age discrimination…

On January 7, 2022—the same day the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments concerning the OSHA workplace vaccine mandate—the Louisiana Supreme Court (“LA Supreme Court” or the “Court”) upheld a private employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, relying on the well-established Louisiana employment-at-will doctrine. The LA Supreme Court found that a private employer is…