Best Ohio Gender Discrimination Attorney Answer: I’m a man and my company is providing advancement opportunities to women, but not men. That’s discrimination, right? Can men be discriminated against? Do gender discrimination laws protect men?
As we have previously blogged about gender discrimination claims, men and women alike share the gender discrimination protections afforded by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Ohio’s R.C. § 4112.02. These laws provide that no employee may be harassed, terminated, disciplined, or otherwise subjected to an adverse employment action because of his or her gender. Moreover, an employer may not use gender as a factor in hiring or promotion decisions. Simply put, men and women are to be treated as equals in the workplace. Under federal and Ohio law, a man who has been discriminated against in the workplace because of his gender has the same rights and protections as does a woman who has been discriminated against.
Our employment discrimination attorneys have previously blogged to answer the employment law question: What is reverse gender discrimination? The answer is that neither Ohio’s R.C. § 4112.99 nor Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 even use term “reverse discrimination.” In fact, these statutes do not even mention a particular gender, race, national origin, or religion. These law simply state that these general categories cannot be used as a determinative factor in making employment decisions, such as hiring, firing, promoting, or demoting. Bosses and managers cannot harass or otherwise discriminate based on these classes.
Sometimes gender discrimination, or other discrimination against other protected classes, in the workplace is evidenced by a pattern of preference of one gender over another. Other times gender discrimination is evidenced by demonstrating that an individual employee of one gender has been treated differently than an employee of another gender in otherwise similar situations. The point is most employers don’t come right out and say that they prefer one gender over another. However, according to a lawsuit recently filed by the EEOC, that is precisely what restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday has done.
In the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, the complaint alleges that in the spring of 2013, Ruby Tuesday was looking to fill summer positions at its location in Park City, Utah. By way of an internal job posting, Ruby Tuesday informed its employees of the temporary summer jobs, which, in addition to presumably lucrative resort town tips, included complimentary housing…all in all, not a bad gig. There was, according to the gender discrimination complaint, one catch. The job posting stated that the opportunities were only available to female Ruby Tuesday employees. As it turned out, predictably, only female applicants were selected for the Park City jobs.
The discrimination lawsuit, brought on behalf of a pair of male Ruby Tuesday employees, seeks monetary damages, training on anti-discrimination laws, and other injunctive relief.
A posting like this by an employer is a tacit admission of gender discrimination. For those of you that think that such employment discrimination is something that is just concocted by disgruntled employees, this is a major employer that is overtly discriminating based on gender. For every overt act of employment discrimination, there is thousands and thousands of employers that violate anti-discrimination laws while quietly trying to hide it. But, that is what employment discrimination lawyers are here for. We dig and dig until we unbury the truth.
If you feel that you are being discriminated based on your gender or sex, then call the right attorney. It is never appropriate to discriminate against female employees. Discrimination against women includes being harassed, fired, wrongfully terminated, discriminated against, demoted, wrongfully disciplined, denied a promotion, and denied wages or not receiving equal pay. When you call the right attorney to schedule a free and confidential consultation at 866-797-6040, you will meet with an attorney from Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm to discuss wrongful discrimination claims and help you determine the best way to pursue your gender/sex discrimination claims.
Disclaimer:
The materials available at the top of this page and on this employment law website are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. Your best option is to contact an Ohio attorney to obtain advice with respect to gender discrimination questions or any particular employment law issue. Use and access to this employment law website or any of the links contained within the site do not create an attorney-client relationship. The legal opinions expressed at or through this site are the opinions of the individual lawyer and may not reflect the opinions of Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, Brian Spitz, or any individual attorney.