You spend much of your waking hours at work. You deserve to work in a safe environment. Many people in this country, they do not have that. LGBTQ+ rights are often neglected by employers, despite harassment and discrimination being prohibited. If you believe your rights are being violated, our Rochester employment lawyer would be glad to hear from you. Please call our office to schedule your consultation with attorney Michelle Cimino today.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
In June of 2020, the United States Supreme Court made a ruling that said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would extend protections to LBGTQ+ workers from being discriminated against.
The protected classes of the act already include race, religion, national origin, and sex. The definition of “sex” was widened to include LGBTQ+ workers.
Depending on how big the employer is, the penalties for discrimination can be up to $300,000. This would vary if you were working for a small company versus a massive corporation.
Examples of Your LGBTQ+ Rights
Understanding whether your rights have been violated can be tricky if you are not sure what your rights are. The following are examples of cases in which an employer acted in an illegal manner. Please keep reading to learn more if you believe you have a claim against an employer.
Questions Employers Ask
When you sit down for an interview, you expect to answer questions, and some may be trickier to answer than others. However, you don’t expect to be asked much about your personal life aside from things relevant to your job.
Employers are forbidden from asking questions that are designed to figure out what your gender identity or sexual orientation is, among other things. This helps to prevent discrimination, as employers cannot hire or fire people based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
You do not owe your employer information about your personal life. If you feel an employer violated your LGBTQ+ rights, please seek legal representation right away.
Dress Code Discrimination
Working in customer service may require you to adhere to a dress code. That may dictate the jewelry you wear, types of clothing, permitted colors/patterns, etc. There is nothing unlawful about a dress code. However, it is illegal for your employer to have different dress codes for other people.
For example, your employer cannot force someone to cut their hair to assimilate to gender stereotypes.
They cannot force a transgender woman to wear the company’s male uniform. Everyone must have the same expectations from their employer regardless of their gender identity, even if it does not conform to gender norms.
Terminations Based on Personal Lives
There are plenty of reasons an employer can legally let you go. It would be a violation of your LGBTQ+ rights for you to be terminated because of your personal relationships.
If an employer does not fire men for dating women, that employer cannot fire women for dating women. There was a case in which an employer terminated a gay employee after he announced he was engaged to another man.
It was determined unlawful because plenty of employees in heterosexual relationships had gotten engaged to men without being terminated.
Meet with Our Rochester Employment Rights Attorney
Attorney Michelle Cimino is committed to helping her community. When an employer violates their employee’s LGTBQ+ rights, they must be held accountable to provide justice to the victims and prevent further wrongdoings. We would be happy to take your call if you are dealing with an employer acting illegally. Please give us a call as soon as you can to schedule your consultation with our Rochester employment lawyer.
