Employment Discrimination Based on Sex
Traditionally, men were supposed to work and women were supposed to stay at home or to work only in certain fields. Now, of course, both men and women work and gender-defined industries are becoming more unusual. Too often, though, some employers do not want to allow women to work in their industry or do not want to allow men to take time away from work for their children and families. Our laws, though, generally do not allow distinction between the sexes in evaluating applicants and employees.
Many individuals know that sexual harassment is illegal. Yet, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act also prohibits sex discrimination more broadly in employment. Employers cannot refuse to hire an individual because of his or her sex and must provide equal facilities and job opportunities for male and female employees. Employers also must pay employees of one sex the same wages as members of the opposite sex for doing the same work. Employers also cannot impose different working conditions on or limit employment benefits to employees based on their sex.
As examples, attorney Wes Sullenger has handled sex discrimination cases involving: (1) an employer allowing employees to make negative comments about a female employee in a male-dominated industry because they found the employee was not a stereotypical female and found her too "masculine" for a female; (2) an employer providing flexible scheduling options to male employees with children but requiring a female employee to start working early in the morning even though that schedule made it hard for her to get her child to school; (3) an employer giving male employees negative marks on their evaluations for declining overtime work so they could attend to family matters; and (4) an employer giving male employees larger raises than female employees because it believed male employees needed to provide for their families while female employees did not.
Wes Sullenger has helped clients successfully resolve sex discrimination cases, resulting in significant financial recoveries. Call us at (270) 443-9401 to schedule a consultation so we can evaluate your case and discuss what we can do to help you.
