Gender Discrimination at Workplace
If you’re reading this page, you’re probably wondering whether or not you need a gender discrimination lawyer. If you’re uncertain, you probably do.
The Los Angeles employment lawyers at The Rubin Law Corporation serve clients in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, San Diego and the entire Southern California region in the fight against sex and gender discrimination in the workplace.
As is evident in today’s society, women have the ability to perform with equal skill and success in virtually every endeavor engaged in by men — including employment, athletics, academics and politics. However, despite this success, discrimination on the basis of sex has a long history in the United States, and its residual effects still operate to keep women’s salaries lower and opportunities fewer in the employment realm.
What Is Gender Discrimination?
Gender discrimination is any workplace behavior, activity, or policy that prevents you from prospering in your chosen field because someone, or your workplace as a whole, discriminates against you due to your gender. Repeated acts that contribute to a hostile workplace, where you feel unwelcome or unsafe because of your gender, also count. Gender discrimination is definitely actionable if you reported it to a superior and nothing was done.
Both men and women can suffer from gender discrimination, though women are much more likely to be victims.
Gender discrimination can be based on either your gender assigned at birth, or on your chosen gender identity or expression. The latter is still a hot-button issue that lawmakers have yet to completely work out at the federal and state levels. However, under California law, it is currently illegal to discriminate against someone based on their gender identity or expression. In other words, a woman who identifies as a man or a man who identifies as a woman can also suffer from gender discrimination.
In fact, transgendered (trans) individuals are more likely to suffer discrimination than people who identify as their assigned sex. For example, a trans woman may suffer from gender discrimination if the workplace is hostile to women. She may also suffer if the workplace is hostile to trans individuals. If you have experienced this type of gender discrimination, we invite you to consult with one of our gender discrimination lawyers.
What Counts as Gender Discrimination?
A wide variety of behavior falls into this category, including but not limited to:
- Any form of sexual harassment.
- Offensive comments, gestures, sexual jokes related to your gender (including comics, images, and memes).
- Discriminatory social media posts.
- Any other gender-based hostility.
- Allowing a work environment hostile to a specific gender to flourish or continue.
- Forcing people of a specific gender or trans people to quit their jobs.
- Firing or demoting people of a specific gender or trans people for no good reason.
- Having different genders handle different tasks or types of tasks.
- Ignoring ideas or suggestions from one gender in favor of the other.
- Exclusion of one gender or trans people from meetings or gatherings.
- Basing promotion and advancement on gender.
- Refusing to allow a trans employee to use the restroom matching their gender identification
A single incident of physical sexual harassment constitutes gender discrimination. So does a pattern of any one of the other behaviors. A pattern of more than one of the above behaviors represents a hostile workplace, making your gender discrimination lawyer’s job much easier.
Your Rights Under Title VII
Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act prohibits private employers from discriminating on several bases, including race, color, religion, sex or national origin. In California, the Fair Employment and Housing Act provides similar protections with some added advantages.
Discrimination that is based on a person’s sex/gender is a very common civil rights violation that happens throughout the United States of America. It is not uncommon for woman or even a man to be discriminated against because of his or her sex or gender and not receive a job, promotion or even the same workload because of what gender/sex he or she is. Do you feel your rights have been violated due to sex/gender discrimination in the workplace? Contact a Los Angeles gender discrimination lawyer today if you have been discriminated against because of your sex or gender.
How Can I Prove My Case?
Gender discrimination cases can be hard to prove. Not only do you have to prove discrimination occurred, you have to prove it occurred because of gender. However, we have plenty of experience with presenting these cases to courts — and winning.
We’ll ask to see a number of items as we prepare your case. Some we may have to get through the process of discovery, when lawyers for both sides share evidence with each other. Most of these things, however, you will have to provide to us. They include:
- Your Personnel File, so we can evaluate it for warnings or disciplinary actions against you in the past.
- Performance Reviews, to look for retaliatory or disciplinary action on the company’s part that resulted from you speaking up about discrimination.
- Your Employee Handbook, to examine your company’s policies on discrimination and harassment, and determine whether they have followed them.
- A Journal of Your Experiences, including key events, with dates and the names of potential witnesses.
- Pay Stubs, tracking any lost time and income due to the discrimination.
- Evidence of Discrimination, including documents, pictures, emails, social media posts, etc.
- Mental of Medical Health Records, if any, showing you’ve had to seek medical help due to the discrimination.
- A Witness List, including information about witnesses who observed or might have observed the discrimination against you.
Once we receive these items, we can re-evaluate your case and, if necessary, start preparing to take it to court.
Contact a Gender Discrimination Lawyer in Los Angeles
If you think that you were discriminated against because of your sex or gender, an experienced discrimination lawyer can help protect your rights. Learn more about your options and what you need to bring to an attorney to prove discrimination by scheduling an initial consultation.
Our team can be reached through our contact form or by calling 310-956-4065. If you need a gender discrimination lawyer, don’t hesitate to contact The Rubin Law Corporation today.
