A white man filed a lawsuit against a company claiming that it denied him a high-six-figure executive position because of his race, age, and sex so that the company could search for more diverse candidates. Among the causes of action he asserted was one for race discrimination under 42 U.S.C.…
Articles Posted in Sex
Can employers legally favor transgender employees over cisgender employees?
The words “cisgender” or “non-transgender” employee appear nowhere in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal workplace law that outlaws gender discrimination. But, according to a Pennsylvania federal judge, “that does not preclude the possibility that discrimination against both a cisgender male and cisgender female may…
Folks, misgendering an employee can be severe and pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment.
I’m going to tell you about a transgender man who worked for three years as a sergeant for a state prison. While working at the prison, he began the process of medically and socially transitioning to align with his gender identity. He underwent hormone replacement therapy, obtained a legal name…
Can states legally ban “woke” training in the workplace?
In 2022, Florida passed The Individual Freedom Act. But most people know this law as the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” which stands for “Stop the Wrongs to our Kids and Employees.” Whatever we call it, the Act says employers cannot subject “any individual, as a condition of employment,” to “training, instruction,…
There’s one state where bringing a sexual harassment claim is much easier than the rest
In most places, a plaintiff who claims that their former employer sexually harassed them must establish that the conduct to which they were subjected was severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of employment and create a hostile or abusive work environment. In New York, however, not so much.…
Do as I say, not as I do? (You won’t believe how much the feds paid to settle allegations of “egregious and continual sexual harassment.”)
Federal agencies, like the U.S. Department of Justice, often publish news releases touting their lawsuits and significant judgments against employer scofflaws. But, I know a big one — a $1.2M judgment — that the DOJ will want to forget. According to multiple reports, including Grace Elletson’s at Law360, the DOJ offered…
An EEOC Commissioner takes issue with a billionaire’s position on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Folks, I did not have EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas giving billionaire Mark Cuban a public antidiscrimination lesson on my Bingo board. But, as I was scrolling through X on Monday, here is what I saw: On Sunday, Mr. Cuban, of Shark Tank fame, the former principal owner of the NBA’s…
Help Wanted: Bartender. Must be biologically male
Notice anything potentially unlawful here? Yesterday, several of us spoke with The Philadelphia Inquirer about the problem with a local restaurant’s job ad discouraging trans men (and any women) from applying.
Here are forty thousand reasons why “equal pay for equal work” applies to male victims too
A federal law called the Equal Pay Act requires that men and women in the same workplace receive equal pay for equal work. The jobs need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal. While women often seek relief under this statute, a state government agency learned the hard…
An employer’s response to a complaint of harassment doesn’t need to be perfect. Just ok may do.
Remember that AT&T ad campaign a few years ago where the mobile network provider touted how cell phone users should not have to settle for mediocre phone service? “Just ok is not ok.” In the workplace, however, “just ok” may be good enough when responding to employee complaints of harassment.…