Practice Areas » Discrimination » Gender or Sex
Title VII and Hawaii law prohibit sex discrimination in employment. Sex discrimination can take many forms, including:
- Failure to hire because of gender
- Disparate treatment between men and women in the workplace regarding promotions, salary, and benefits
- Retaliation following a complaint of sex or gender discrimination
- Sexual harassment
- Sexual stereotyping – assigning certain jobs to men and certain jobs to women because of perceived idea about which gender is better suited for the job
Terms or Conditions of Employment
Sex discrimination is treating an employee or employees differently because of their gender. Whenever this discrimination affects the "terms or conditions of employment", it is illegal.
"Terms or conditions of employment" means the important aspects of someone's job: their position, pay, title, hours, vacations. If a person is not hired because of their gender this is also considered a term or condition of employment.
Equal Pay Act
Under the Equal Pay Act, an employer may not discriminate in wages on the basis of sex. When male and female employees perform jobs which require substantially equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and are performed in similar working conditions, an employer must pay his employees equally. An employer, however, may be able to demonstrate that these payment decisions are based on a reasonable factor other than sex, such as merit, a seniority system, or a quantity system. If an employee can establish a violation of the Equal Pay Act, an employer must correct the differential by increasing the wages of the lower paid sex, not by decreasing the wages of the higher paid sex.
Stereotyping
It is also illegal to make employment decisions based on stereotypes regarding gender. For example, in on case an employer was held to have violated the Federal Title VII anti-discrimination law when it delayed a female employee's promotion based in part on evaluation comments describing her as "macho" and advising her to "take a course in charm school". This woman was treated differently because of her gender, and because she seemed too "male".
Gender Roles
Frequently employers expect women to have certain duties, such as caring for children. In one case, an employer did not hire women with preschool-age children, while at the same time it did hire men with preschool-age children. Even though most of the people it hired were women, there was still discrimination. The employer didn't think women with young children should be working outside the home. The employer is entitled to this belief. But he couldn't let it affect his employment decisions. When his beliefs did influence his hiring decisions, he broke the law.
If you are experiencing any of these issues in your workplace, your employer may be violating the law. Our firm would be glad to discuss your concerns with you.
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