Under federal law, discriminating against employees based on their age, disability, gender, race, or sexual orientation is illegal. But workplace discrimination still occurs in a lot of organizations. If you are a victim of gender biases in your workplace, you must consider having a New York employment law attorney involved. Your attorney can tell you what to do to prove the discriminatory action against you while you do your job.
Kinds of Gender Discrimination that Occurs in Workplaces
Gender discrimination occurs when you are treated unfairly due to your sex. It does not have to be deliberate. Somebody in your workplace may discriminate against you without meaning to or realizing it. The law does not permit positive discrimination that favors one individual. For instance, your employer cannot hire or promote women to a certain role after being previously discriminated against when they apply for this position.
- Direct gender discrimination. This occurs when you are treated less favorably due to your gender than a worker of the opposite gender.
- Indirect discrimination. This is when a company has a policy, rule, or practice that a worker of a certain gender may not meet. This includes requiring all workers to work full-time.
Proving Gender Discrimination
Direct or circumstantial evidence can be used to prove workplace discrimination. Direct evidence can be testimonies or statements made by other employees who have witnessed their employer did not treated an employee equally. Examples of this evidence include emails that tell a manager not to promote a worker due to their sexual orientation or a written policy not to hire applicants of a particular gender.
Meanwhile, circumstantial or indirect evidence includes facts that suggest a worker has experienced workplace discrimination. It can include documents or statistical data that show an employer has discriminated against a worker in favor of another. In this case, the alleged victim of discrimination must collect evidence such as the procedures and policies of the company, letters, notes, or recordings that can be used to reinforce their case.
Before a case can be built on circumstantial evidence, the alleged victim should prove to the court and the EEOC that they belong to a protected class. Also, they must prove that they are as qualified for the position as other employees and that their employer took adverse employment actions towards them during an aspect of their employment. A successful gender discrimination complaint can lead to compensation such as back pay, reinstatement, or placement in the position denied to them.
