While there seem to be fewer instances of less prejudice among workers in California, Washington, and the United States, some sex stereotypes stills show some employees are still disadvantaged.
Whether your employer was involved in sex discrimination knowingly or unknowingly, you may still have a discrimination claim. In some cases, it becomes hard to determine whether you have a case. In such a situation, you may consider looking for a top employment law firm to offer guidance.
What Is Sex Discrimination At Workplace
Sex discrimination is the unfair treatment of a man or woman in the workplace. It can be direct or indirect as follows:
- Direct discrimination: This is where your employer treats you worse than what someone else in your situation is being treated simply because of your sex. For instance, your employer may have set a certain sales target for both male and female employees. If an adverse action such as demotion is only taken to female employees or vice versa, it can be direct sex discrimination.
- Indirect discrimination: When a company has policies meant for all employees, but such policies seem to put you at a disadvantage, this could be indirect discrimination. For example, the policy may require employees who work on shift to change their working hours. Such policy may be a disadvantage to women or men who take their kids from school.
How To Prove Sex Discrimination
Any proof depends on the facts and circumstances surrounding each case. However, one core thing for any proof is that it always boils down to your employer’s intent when exercising sex discrimination. In any given case, you may be required to prove that:
- You belonged to a protected class.
- Your employer promoted other employees with whom you shared the same qualifications.
- Your employer advertised a position and hired someone who is not in your protected class.
Your employer will have all the reasons to prove that your claims are invalid. But with an experienced lawyer, you can surpass all these disagreements and come up with a good argument to show that your employer acted on gender when making employment decisions. For instance, your employer may have argued that you could not work during the night shift because you were a woman; the argument could be based on gender.
Filing A Sex Discrimination Claim
It’s challenging to bring up a sex discrimination claim due to the fact that no one may be able to grasp what your employee had in mind or their intent in any action they took. That’s why you need to have circumstantial evidence to prove that, indeed, your employer had ill intent. For instance, if your employer never mentioned that he doesn’t like promoting female employees, this would be direct discrimination and easy to prove. However, such comments are rare.
You will have to prove that the adverse action was taken against you because you were a man or a woman. Having an employment lawyer would greatly help explain to the jury how your employer’s business made you suffer.