Best Ohio Gender Discrimination Attorney Answer: Can my boss tell me that as the only female employee in my department I was told I have host parties? My work performance review was good, but I was fired anyway; can I sue my boss? Can women be forced to do additional demeaning work that men do not have to do?
I can still remember the first time I learned about the existence of Facebook. My younger sibling called to tell me about this fun new social website. At that time, Facebook wasn’t open to the public and users had to have a college email address to create an account. As my sibling described the website I remember thinking, “but what is it for?” and “why would anyone want to do that?” I didn’t fully understand the appeal until I actually created the account and began using it.
These days Facebook is a household name. A few years ago an award winning movie debuted about enigmatic founder, Mark Zuckerburg called, “The Social Network.“ My mom even has a Facebook account and my entire family uses the site to share pictures and keep in touch. As I watch my mom using the site I find it funny when she gets so excited about 40 “friends” liking her picture or commenting on something she shared on her page.
But not everything in life can be reduced to how many “likes” it receives, and not everyone finds enjoyment in browsing Facebook’s newsfeed. A recent study suggests that heavy use of Facebook can lead to feelings of envy and depression. And a recent law suit filed by a Facebook employee claims that everything isn’t coming up roses at the website’s Silicon Valley headquarters.
Former Facebook employee, Chia Hong, has filed a gender discrimination law suit against the company alleging that she was treated differently than her male, non-Taiwanese coworkers. Hong alleges that her coworkers engaged in a pattern of discriminatory behavior on her National Origin, Gender, and Retaliation including:
- Reprimanding Hong for using one personal day per month to visit her child’s school;
- Asking Hong why she doesn’t just stay home and care for her children;
- Ignoring, belitting and criticizing Hong for providing feedback in group meetings while male employees of non-Chinese descent at Facebook were not ignored, belittled, or criticized for providing input at group meetings; and Hong was regularly one of the only employees at group meetings of Chinese or Taiwanese descent;
- Instructing Hong to organize parties and serve drinks to her male coworkers while male employees at Facebook were not instructed to host parties or serve drinks;
- Accusing Hong of being an “order taker” with the implication that Hong could not make independent decisions in performing her job duties;
- Being told she would not be integrated as a team member because she looks and speaks differently than her team members;
- After complaining about the discriminatory conduct, Hong was given a negative performance evaluation and terminated, but prior to complaining, Hong had received favorable performance evaluations;
- Hong was replaced by a less experienced male employee of Indian descent.
If anything has occurred at your job that is similar to what Hong has alleged, the best thing to do is contact an attorney for advice. Although Hong has filed suit in California, employees in the State of Ohio are protected under both state and federal laws. Federal laws contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were enacted to prohibit Gender discrimination, National Origin discrimination and Retaliation in all fifty states. This includes using an employee’s Gender, National Origin, or complaints of discrimination/harassment, as a consideration in decisions to promote, hire, fire, evaluate performance, and assign duties. Similarly, Ohio Revised Code § 4112.02 sets forth that it is unlawful for a covered employer to “discharge without just cause, to refuse to hire, or otherwise to discriminate against that person with respect to hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, or any matter directly or indirectly related to employment” based on Gender, National Origin, or Retaliation.
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.