The U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the "cat's paw" theory of liability could make it far more difficult for employers to win dismissal of cases alleging job-related discrimination. As a result of a unanimous ruling in Vincent E. Staub vs. Proctor Hospital, experts say that employers will have to conduct a thorough investigation before taking an adverse job action to be sure that no one in a chain of command acted with a discriminatory motive. Phil Berkowitz states that the court held "that if someone has a discriminatory animus" and "puts in place a process the end of which is that an employee is discharged, or suffers any adverse employment consequence, then the fact that he kept his discriminatory animus a secret can't be used as defense by the employer."

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