Alabama Gender Discrimination Attorney

It is illegal to treat employees less favorably because they are a man, woman, or a member of the LGBT community. However, this discrimination continues to pervade many places of employment depriving people of the right to advance as far in their employment as their talents and abilities can take them, regardless of gender.



Sex discrimination

The Women’s Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, fought against women being paid less than men for doing the same jobs, discriminated against because of pregnancy, and denied their rightful place in the boardrooms of corporations throughout the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court has clearly stated that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was meant to make gender totally irrelevant to employment decisions.



Common Examples of Gender Discrimination

While every charge of gender discrimination is nuanced to the specific circumstances and individuals involved, most cases fall into a handful of basic classifications. 

Hiring, Firing, and Promotion: If a person is an excellent candidate for a job opening but is not hired because of their sex or if they are passed up for a promotion due to their gender identity, this is discriminatory and illegal. Perhaps the employer has clients who are more comfortable working with women, and this fact led to a man being let go…or perhaps an employer terminates a lesbian woman because she is married to another woman…these actions are discriminatory and illegal. Gender discrimination in terms of hiring, firing, and promotion can take many forms, and because it can be challenging to prove, working closely with a dedicated Alabama Gender Discrimination Attorney is a good decision to make sure your rights and your case are well represented from a legal standpoint.

Compensation: Even today it is a proven fact that women—by virtue of simply being women—routinely earn less than men in their places of employment. If a woman has similar qualifications and experience as a male counterpart and still earns less money while handling the same or very similar job duties, it could be gender discrimination. In fact, Pew Research Center finds that the pay gap between men and women was 16 cents in 2020 (with women earning 16 cents per hour less on average than men), which is down from a 33-cent pay gap in 1980. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits this kind of discrimination, and so does the Equal Pay Act of 1963. 

Job Classification: If your job classification is scaled back because you are unable to continue working the same amount of overtime after having a baby that you did prior to having a baby, it may be considered gender discrimination if your male coworkers are allowed to do the same for personal reasons. Pregnancy discrimination is a form of sex discrimination by virtue of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to provide more protection for workers. Additionally, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which was passed by Congress in June of 2023, provides additional protections for pregnant workers during and after pregnancy.

Benefits: Gender discrimination can also factor into the benefits that you receive. For example, if male employees are being provided with less parental leave benefits than female employees, that can also be a form of gender discrimination.



Proving Sex Discrimination and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity

Most employers do not openly state their intent to discriminate against an employee which makes proving discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity challenging. Employees, therefore, must use circumstantial evidence to build a case. Typically, an employee has to 1) show that they are a member of a protected class, 2) have been subjected to an adverse employment action, and 3) that someone else not in their protected class was treated more favorably than they were. 

After the employee establishes the aforementioned elements of their claim, the burden of proof shifts to the employer to articulate what is referred to as a “legitimate non-discriminatory” reason for the refusal to hire, discipline, suspension, termination, or other adverse employment action. More often than not, employers will falsely claim that an employee performed poorly, violated work policies, or engaged in other misconduct, all in an effort to cover up discrimination. The burden of proof then shifts back to the employee to prove that the employer’s reason for the adverse employment action is “pretext” for unlawful discrimination.

Proving an employment discrimination case with circumstantial evidence can be very difficult, but The Justice Law Firm, LLC can help you win your case despite these difficulties.