It is important to retain a Sexual Favoritism Sexual Harassment Attorney if you think you are in or was retaliated against for being in a sexual favoritism situation because these cases can be very difficult to prove. The Pursley Law Firm has a competent attorney ready to assist you and review the details of your Sexual Favoritism Sexual Harassment case. Their attorneys are able to help employees all over Texas; including the cities of Houston, Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, and San Antonio.

Sexual favoritism occurs when a supervisor gives preferential treatment to an employee based upon requests for sexual favors and/or submission to requests for sexual favors. The EEOC Guidelines provide that an employee who is a third-party bystander to a supervisor’s favoritism of another employee may have a cause of action for sexual harassment. The Guidelines state that sexual favoritism may be unlawful where equally qualified employees are denied job benefits because they have not submitted (or been asked to submit) to the sexual requests of a supervisor. However, the courts can have very strict rulings on when Title VII is violated in a Sexual Favoritism case because the favoritism must be based on gender and no other parameters. For example, Title VII would be violated if managers, by their conduct, communicated the messages that members of the disfavored gender have no place other than as sexual playthings, and may advance only by their willingness to play along. In this instance, a court might deny summary judgment for the employer where plaintiff alleged that the sexual relationship between executive director and a co-worker of plaintiff created a “sexually biased environment” resulting in her discharge (basically a female employee who is not a direct recipient of harassment may have a cause of action for hostile work environment based on a pervasive atmosphere of offensive conduct in an office where managers maintained sexual relationships with staff members and bestowed preferential treatment on those who submitted). However, there are several examples that can demonstrate why the court often sides in favor of employers in Sexual Favoritism cases. One instance: the Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals affirmed judgment in favor of the employer, establishing that the plaintiff could not state a claim for sexual harassment under Title VII, observing, “courts have held that when an employer discriminates in favor of a lover, such an action is not sex-based discrimination, as the favoritism, while unfair, disadvantages both sexes alike for reasons other than gender.” The court found that the plaintiff (employee filing the claim) was transferred so that the favored employee could be placed in her position rather than because of her gender. Yet another case has a former secretary to a dean that sued a university for sexual harassment after she was terminated. She claimed she was discharged because she observed the dean embracing his female assistant in his office. The Fifth Circuit affirmed judgment in favor of the employer, ruling that even if the plaintiff’s allegations were true, she could not state a claim for sexual harassment in violation of Title VII. The court reasoned that the termination decision was based upon the employee’s inconvenient knowledge of the affair, not on her gender. And as another example, seven male respiratory therapists claimed they were unfairly disqualified for promotion so the department administrator could hire a woman with whom he was engaged in a romantic relationship. Similarly, a court concluded that because any woman applying for a job would have faced the same predicament, the plaintiffs were not excluded because of their gender and, therefore, Title VII was not violated. Another court rejected a sexual harassment claim based upon a relationship between a supervisor and a co-worker of the plaintiff. The court recognized that the situation could constitute harassment if the favoritism actually interfered with the plaintiff’s work environment, but refused to hold such a situation is always sexually harassing. The court found enough evidence to support the plaintiff’s claim of retaliation for her complaint about the work environment, but did not find sufficient evidence to support her contention that the workplace was oppressive and intolerable.

These are several examples of courts often siding with employers unless it is explicitly clear that an employee was discriminated against in the sexual favoritism solely because of their gender. There are many different types of sexual harassment situations in the workplace today and it can be confusing to understand when your rights have been violated. An experienced employment attorney can best assist you when you have experienced retaliation from sexual harassment complaints or refused to comply with sexual favoritism sexual harassment complaints.

Do I Have A Sexual Favoritism Case in Texas?

Sexual Harassment Information Center

A Sexual Harassment Retaliation Employment Law Attorney at the Pursley Law Firm would be a competent source of assistance for you in filing a complaint against your employer and trying to recover financial damages you have experienced in retaliation for filing a sexual harassment complaint. The Pursley Law Firm has the aptitude to pursue claims for employees in the state of Texas, including the cities of Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, and San Antonio. An experienced Sexual Harassment Retaliation lawyer is ready to discuss the details of your case with you.

Both Title VII and the TCHRA prohibit retaliation against an employee complaining of discrimination or harassment based on sex or other grounds. Claims of retaliation often complicate the issues raised in sexual harassment litigation by requiring the plaintiff to prove additional facts to satisfy the elements of a retaliatory discharge claim. To state a retaliation claim, the employee must show that (i) he or she engaged in an activity protected by Title VII (or the TCHRA); (ii) an adverse employment action followed; and (iii) a causal connection exists between the activity and the adverse action. An adverse action by an employer must be a definitive employment decision, such as hiring, firing, promoting, granting leave, or compensating, basically it is a significant change in employment status. In an extreme example of an adverse action, a court decided that retaliating against a complainant by permitting her fellow employees to punish her would fall within the definition of an adverse employment action. In most retaliatory adverse employment actions, there is a direct economic harm caused to the complaint and one for which they can recover damages for in a court case.

While retaliation for sexual harassment is illegal, backlash is not. Often a complainant can face additional detrimental treatment from co-workers or even be shunned by them after filing a complaint and refusing to submit to sexual favors or demands. This is often more damaging to the complainant than the actual sexual harassment because they don�t anticipate such negative consequences from friends or co-workers. Most of those that have filed sexual harassment complaints have said that the backlash and retaliation was more stressful than the actual harassment. To make an unfortunate situation worse, the retaliation can be very difficult to prove in a case and the backlash from co-workers is not unlawful. If you have been retaliated against after filing a sexual harassment claim and have suffered financial damages as a result, then you should contact an employment attorney to help you protect your rights.

Do I Have A Sexual Harasment Retaliation Case in Texas?

Sexual Harassment Information Center

The Pursley Law Firm has a sexual harassment attorney that has experience in workplace technology cases that can pursue your claim and remedy any suffering you may have endured through this harassment. Workplace Technology Sexual Harassment is increasing in unbelievable numbers as there is more and more reliance on the internet and E-mail for business communication and international commerce. A consultation with a lawyer is often the best place to gain objective information on how to handle your current employment and circumstances of harassment.

E-mail harassment cases are on the rise and involve situations in which an employee sues his or her employer for sexual harassment based, in part, on E-mail messages the employee received and the employer failed to monitor. Reported cases of E-mail harassment are difficult to find and rarely go to trial because they usually settle once the investigator finds the incriminating E-mail. Typically, reported cases also involve invasion of privacy issues arising out of the employer disciplining an employee for improper, potentially harassing use of E-mail.

Increasingly, employees are using the Internet to conduct business and communicate with co-workers, customers, and others. Unfortunately, employees also are using the Internet to visit inappropriate Websites. As Internet use increases, employers are faced with new employee privacy, sexual harassment, and other liability issues that many companies have yet to address in their employment policies. An employer who fails to monitor Internet activity risks a situation in which an employee may electronically “pin up” pornographic or other offensive material at work, creating a hostile environment or other basis for a discrimination lawsuit. E-mail and Internet sexual harassment claims are often made by women, although women are not the sole claimants, the majority of adult content on the internet that many of the claims are based on is viewed by men.

Email and Internet communications can become an employment law nightmare when an individual employee downloads adult content or bulletin boards into the company’s computer system. In such a situation, the employer could face multiple harassment cases at a time. It is a good idea that most employers have and enforce an electronic checklist for email and internet usage policy so there is plan of discipline they are able to follow when complaints are made. If you have experienced sexual harassment via the use of E-mail, the Internet or some other mode of technology that should be monitored by the employer, then contact a sexual harassment and workplace technology employment law attorney for assistance.

Do I Have A Workplace Technology Case in Texas?

Sexual Harassment Information Center

An Unpaid Wages Employment Attorney at the Pursley Law Firm will review the details of your case against your employer. The Pursley Law Firm has the ability to pursue claims for Unpaid Wages after exhausting efforts with the Texas Workforce Commission for victims all over Texas; including the cities of Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. Unpaid Wages in Employment is an unfortunate reality for many people; so an experienced Unpaid Wages Employment lawyer is ready to discuss how he can best assist you.

The Texas Payment of Wages Act (Texas Payday Law) governs the time and manner of the payment of wages. The statute’s objective is to deter employers from unlawfully withholding wages to employees. The Payday Law does this by providing employees with an avenue for the enforcement of wage claims, many of which would as a practical matter be too small to justify the expense of a civil suit. The Payday Law “establishes an administrative system giving authority to the Texas Employment Commission (now know as the Texas Workforce Commission) to govern the payment of wages by employers. The statute also provides for administrative review of claims for wages and provides for judicial review of administrative decisions.” The Payday Law applies only to employer-employee relationships. It does not cover monies owed pursuant to work performed as an independent contractor. No employer is too small to be covered by the Payday Law. The Payday Law defines an “employer” as a person who employs one or more employees.

The term “wages” is defined by the law to include basically any plausible form of compensation for the work performed by an employee, regardless of how the wages are accounted for by task, commission, time, piece, or any other basis. Referring to wages also includes other types of compensation that are often labeled benefits such as: sick leave pay, vacation pay, personal time pay, holiday pay, parental leave pay, and severance pay, that are paid in accordance with a policy of the employer. An employee whose title is an administrator, executive, or other professional in the higher echelons of the company, by definition of the FLSA, must be paid at least once a month. All other employees are required to be paid at least twice a month. Each pay period within the month should consist of an equal number of days as much as is plausible by the employer. Paydays should be designated and planned in advance. If they are not, then paydays will fall by default on the first and fifteenth day of each month.

A notice that informs employees of scheduled paydays should be posted in an obvious area for all employees to view. If for any reason, an employee does not get paid on payday then s/he should be paid on another business day, as requested by the employee. Any employee who has been terminated from employment must be paid in full within six days after the employee is discharged, including payment for vacation pay and sick pay in accordance with company policy. The payday law also states that an employee who quits his or her employment must be paid in full on or before the next regularly scheduled payday. Additionally, wages paid on commission and bonuses must be paid in a timely manner as agreed by the employer and the employee, or according to the terms of a governing collective bargaining agreement.

Texas Payday Law states that an employee who is not paid wages may file a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission within 180 days from the date the claimed wages became due for payment. The employee may file a claim in person or by mail, but not by facsimile. An employee may not bring a wage claim in “bad faith,” that is, with knowledge that the claim is groundless, or solely to harass the employer. Texas Payday Law requires that the Texas Workforce Commission Wage Claim must be filed first before any legal action with an attorney can be pursued. If your employer has caused financial hardship and other unfortunate suffering to you or your family, then you should speak with an experienced employment attorney about your situation to discuss the appropriate course of action in terms of your unpaid wages. Unpaid wages are a serious breach of an employment contract and should be pursued in every appropriate legal action possible.

Do I Have An Unpaid Wages Case in Texas?

Overtime Information Center

A Texas Payday Law Employment Attorney at the Pursley Law Firm will review the details of your case against your employer. The Pursley Law Firm has the ability to pursue claims with the Texas Payday Law for employees all over Texas; including the cities of Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. The Texas Payday Law is there to protect employees from being taken advantage of by their employers in regards to FSLA, overtime, or regular wage payment. An Employment lawyer with a thorough understanding of the Texas Payday law is always available to discuss how he can best assist you.

The Texas Payday Law (TPL) defines the term “wages” to include virtually every conceivable form of compensation for services rendered by an employee, regardless of whether “wages” are calculated by time, task, piece, commission, or any other basis. The term “wages” also includes compensation that does not directly reflect services rendered, including vacation pay, holiday pay, sick leave pay, parental leave pay, and severance pay, paid pursuant to a written agreement or policy of the employer. An employee who qualifies as a bona fide executive, administrator, or professional under the FLSA must be paid at least once a month. All other employees must be paid at least twice a month. As much as possible, each pay period within the month must consist of an equal number of days. An employer must “designate” paydays. Failure to do so results in paydays falling by default on the first and fifteenth day of each month. The Texas Payday Law does not apply to independent contractors, only to employees. Private employers are covered by TPL; while it does not cover any governmental employers. Unlike other employment laws the TPL has no limitations on business size, nature of the business, or number of employees. Any situation in which someone has been hired to work for someone else and performs any kind of work for wages is covered under the Texas Payday Law as long as the kind of direction and control of the hiring person is in place that would normally establish an employment relationship. There is no limit on the dollar amount of the wage claim that an employee or ex-employee may file under the current law.

The employer must post, in a conspicuous workplace location, notices informing employees of scheduled paydays. An employee, who is not paid on payday for any reason, including his or her absence, must be paid on another business day, at the employee’s request. Any employee who has been terminated from employment must be paid in full within six days (not “workdays”) after the employee is discharged. Payment must include vacation pay and sick pay pursuant to any written agreement or written company policy. An employee who quits his or her employment must be paid in full on or before the next regularly scheduled payday. Wages paid on commission and bonuses must be paid in a timely manner as agreed by the employer and the employee, or according to the terms of a governing collective bargaining agreement.

Texas Payday Law requires that the Texas Workforce Commission Wage Claim must be filed first before any legal action with an attorney can be pursued. If you have a situation that has caused financial hardship and other unfortunate suffering to you or your family, then you should speak with an experienced employment attorney about your situation to discuss the appropriate course of action in terms of your employer’s violation of the Texas Payday Law.

Do I Have A Texas Payday Law Case in Texas?

Overtime Information Center

The Pursley Law Firm has the ability to pursue FSLA Exemption claims for employees all over Texas; including Austin, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso and San Antonio. This can be a confusing area of employment law and an experienced and competent attorney will help you sort through the details of your situation with your employer.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exempts from minimum wage and overtime coverage, employees in particular industries of employment. Domestic service employees employed to provide companionship services for individuals who, because of age or infirmity, are unable to care for themselves. Meaning either nannies for children or in-home care for the elderly and infirm. Those regulations in turn define domestic service employment as services of a household nature performed by an employee in or about a private home (whether permanent or temporary) of the person by whom he or she is employed. Employees in an assisted-living residence have been determined that they do not in fact work in private homes. Where they provided services through an assisted-living program, it is more like a commercial residence (similar to apartments) and so the FLSA’s domestic-services exemption does not apply.

Another exemption of the FLSA, exempts from its minimum wage and overtime requirements, an employee who works catching or cultivating fish or, in the “fish processing,” canning, or packing marine products at sea. The applicable regulations impose certain requirements must be met to qualify for a “fish processing” exemption. If employees who worked on an ocean-going trawler sought wages allegedly due them under the FLSA; and the employer responded that they were subject to the FLSA’s fishing operations exemption. The Court will find that because the employees worked on an ocean-going trawler on which they caught fish and cleaned, rinsed and froze them, the employees engaged in “fish processing” activities that qualified for the FLSA’s fishing operations exemption.

The FLSA also exempts agriculture from minimum wage requirements under limited circumstances. It is noted that any employee employed in agriculture does not necessarily fall into the FLSA agriculture exemption. Agriculture as defined by the FLSA has primary and secondary components. Primarily, agriculture means farming in all its branches, such as cultivating and tillage of soil, growing and harvesting of crops. Secondarily, agriculture includes other farm practices, but only if they are performed by a farmer or on a farm. Farming also includes horticulture. Examples of not falling into the FLSA agriculture exemption would be a tomato packing plant that packed tomatoes grown by other producers in addition to its own products. Also, an employer can lose its status as a farmer when it sends chickens to independent contractor farms.

Unlike most statutes, the burden of proof in FLSA cases often falls on the defendant-employer, not the plaintiff-employee. For example, the employer bears the burden of showing an employee is exempt from the FLSA’s overtime provisions. If an employment attorney can help you sort through your FLSA exemption employment law issue, then be sure to contact the Pursley Law Firm for guidance.

Do I Have A Fair Labor Standards Act Case in Texas?

Overtime Information Center

The Pursley Law Firm handles Sexual Harassment Termination cases in Texas including Dallas, Austin, Houston and nationwide. If you have been a victim of employmer retaliation, relating to sexual harassment at your place of employment, you should speak with a Sexual Harassment Termination Lawyer in Texas to determine whether you have a case.

“Sexual harassment” is a term that, in less than two decades, has not only permeated the national consciousness, but has become part of the every day vernacular. Defining sexual harassment, however, is not easy. Beyond the obvious cases of sexual violation, humiliation, and violence in the workplace, there is no consensus as to what is and is not sexual harassment. In defining sexual harassment, subjective issues like intent, perception, “welcomeness,” and credibility are critical. These inquiries create numerous opportunities for ambiguity, misunderstanding, and frustration. They also lead to litigation. Legal issues concerning an employer’s “good faith investigation” and “appropriate remedial action” also frequently arise in sexual harassment cases.

Enforcement of a sexual harassment policy in the workplace requires the investigation, evaluation, and possible censuring of conduct that may be socially acceptable in other contexts. Making appropriate decisions concerning sexual harassment allegations in the workplace demands the ability to consider context, degree, and the nuances of the relationship. The line between the friendly and the predatory, or between the flirtatious and the genuinely offensive, is often difficult to determine. Even when speech or conduct is obnoxious, when does being a jerk become a workplace crime?

For all its ubiquity today, the idea that sexual harassment is a matter for the legal system is relatively new. The EEOC first issued guidelines on sexual harassment in 1980. The Supreme Court first addressed the issue in 1986. Many commentators observe that the proliferation of sexual harassment litigation increased sharply with the publicity surrounding the charges raised by Anita Hill against then Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas during his Senate confirmation hearings. Later, the case brought by Paula Jones against President Clinton also received extraordinary media attention and further raised awareness of sexual harassment litigation.

Currently, sexual harassment is defined as either “quid pro quo sexual harassment” or “hostile work environment sexual harassment.”

The range of harassment claimed in recent cases spans a spectrum of type and degree that includes:

• Gender Harassment – Openly hostile work environment directed at an individual because of his or her gender, including same gender harassment.
• Seductive Behavior – Unwanted, inappropriate, and offensive physical or verbal sexual advances with inadequate remedial action.
• Sexual Bribery – Solicitation of sexual activity or other sex-linked behavior by promise of reward or threat of punishment (classic quid pro quo harassment).
• Sexual Coercion – Coercion of sexual activity or other sex-linked behavior by threat of punishment (a form of quid pro quo harassment).
• Sexual Assault – Physical assault or rape, including gross sexual imposition.

According to the precedent set in the leading sexual harassment cases, “Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment,” when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

There are several different scenarios that sexual harassment can happen in, several of the factors include: The harasser and victim can be either sex and the victim may or may not be the opposite sex. The harasser can be the victim’s superior in terms of management or supervisory position, some other representative of the employer, a supervisor or employee in another department of the company, a non-employee (e.g., a contractor or vendor, etc.), or a co-worker. A victim of sexual harassment isn’t always the person harassed but could be anyone negatively affected by the offensive conduct. Discharge of or economic injury to the victim does not have to be the result for the conduct to be considered sexual harassment. Also, the victim should make it clear that under no circumstance is the harasser’s conduct welcome. It is best if the victim informs the harasser directly at least once that the conduct is unwelcome and must stop. The victim should use any employer complaint mechanism or grievance system available through the management or human resources of the company.

When investigating allegations of sexual harassment, the EEOC looks at the whole record of facts: the circumstances, such as the nature of the sexual advances, and the context in which the alleged incidents occurred. A determination on the allegations is made from these facts on each individual case.

Prevention is basically the only tool available to eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace. Employers can be found liable if they did not take steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring or have a reporting and investigating policy in place. It is imperative that they should plainly communicate to their employees that there is no tolerance for sexual harassment. Employers should do so by providing sexual harassment training to their employees upon the start of the employment and recurring on an annual or bi-annual basis based on their length of employment. A simple, effective, and confidential complaint or grievance process needs to be in place and well known to the employees with the employer willing to take immediate and appropriate action when a complaint is filed.

It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on sex or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. In Fiscal Year 2005, the EEOC received 12,679 charges of sexual harassment. 14.3% of those charges were filed by males. EEOC resolved 12,859 sexual harassment charges in FY 2004 and recovered $47.9 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals (not including monetary benefits obtained through litigation).

Sexual harassment is an issue that is not likely to go away any time soon. The increased emphasis on sexual harassment liability issues has had both positive and negative effects on male-female work relationships. The prospect of freedom from harassment no doubt enhances the ability of women to excel in the workplace and break through glass ceiling barriers to advancement. On the other hand, the fear of sexual harassment claims may be counterproductive to that advancement. The great media attention to high profile sexual harassment cases may make it easy to forget that men and women in the workplace are not inherent enemies. It is also worth remembering that the chemistry that exists between men and women has the capacity to enhance work relations at least as often as sexual harassment threatens them.

Do I Have A Sexual Harassment Discharge Case in Texas?

Wrongful Termination Information Center

The Pursley Law Firm has a Constructive Discharge Lawyer that will review the details of your case if you have suffered because of an employer and determine if you have a claim against them. They have the experience to pursue claims of constructive discharge from employment for employees all over Texas; specifically in the cities of Dallas, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and El Paso, but other cities as well. Constructive Discharge from your employer is often an emotionally charged event; so a Constructive Discharge Employment lawyer at the Pursley Law Firm is ready to discuss your case with you and be the advocate that you need.

To establish wrongful discharge, a former employee must prove he or she was “discharged.” The discharge requirement easily is satisfied when an employee is fired (i.e., suffers an “actual discharge”). If, however, an employee resigns due to intolerable working conditions, the resignation may be considered the functional equivalent of a firing and constructive discharge serves as a legal substitute for the discharge element of a case in discriminatory and retaliatory discharge cases. Constructive discharge involves comparing the situation with how a reasonable person would have acted in the same or similar circumstances. For example, if a reasonable person would have resigned in the same or similar situation as the employee because an employer made conditions so intolerable, then the employee is considered to have been discharged. The constructive discharge doctrine prevents an employer from doing indirectly what it is prohibited from doing directly by protecting employees who are not fired, but are forced to resign.

In order to prove objectively intolerable working conditions sufficient to support a constructive discharge claim, the plaintiff must prove both an unlawful predicate act (e.g.,discrimination or retaliation in violation of Title VII or the TCHRA) and aggravating circumstances. Finding proof of discrimination alone is not a sufficient predicate to support a constructive discharge claim; it also requires a plaintiff to prove aggravating circumstances. If the plaintiff fails to prove the unlawful underlying act, then the constructive discharge claim will also fail. Basically, a constructive discharge claim can be rejected because there was no discrimination proven.

A common allegation relied upon to establish aggravating circumstances is that the employer created or allowed the creation of an “atmosphere of harassment” or hostility that rendered working conditions intolerable. An example of a case would be: finding evidence of constructive discharge where, after plaintiff complained about sexual harassment, her superiors gave her excessive work, refused to talk to her, and generally created an uncomfortable and, eventually, intolerable working atmosphere. To prove an atmosphere of harassment, the plaintiff must show a level of harassment of “greater severity or pervasiveness” than the minimum required to prove a hostile working environment. How other employees react to the alleged atmosphere of harassment is relevant to this inquiry. For example, a court can deny the plaintiff’s claims of First Amendment retaliation premised on a constructive discharge theory in part because other employees, who had suffered a much greater degree of harassment and retaliation and still remained employed. There can be difficulty in proving the “greater level of harassment” necessary to establish constructive discharge, even when the harassment or discrimination claim is found valid.

It is imperative that an employee pursue all administrative remedies with the employer before the resignation. It is unlikely that a court would find for constructive discharge if an employee resigned before an employer was given a chance to investigate and remedy the situation if needed. Constructive discharge can apply in discrimination, sexual harassment, or a Sabine Pilot case. If you believe you have a valid claim of constructive discharge, then you should seek the assistance of an experienced employment attorney to help you recover damages.

Do I Have A Constructive Discharge Case in Texas?

Wrongful Termination Information Center

An experienced Pregnancy Discrimination Lawyer at the Pursley Law Firm can review the details of your case with you to determine if you qualify to file a Pregnancy Discrimination claim with the EEOC and further pursue legal action. Many people and managers are unaware that Pregnancy Discrimination is unlawful and the Pregnancy Discrimination Attorney at the Pursley Law Firm is able to represent claimants in most cities in Texas, including the cities of Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and El Paso.

The definition of gender or sex discrimination includes discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which is an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Not only may an employer not refuse to hire a pregnant employee because of her condition, but they also may not treat a current employee any different, pass over for promotion and advancement or withhold work assignments because of her pregnancy. A pregnant employee should be evaluated differently than another employee with a similar position because of her condition; an employer does have the right to ask for a doctor’s statement if there are any responsibilities she should not perform. A pregnant employee must be allowed to work as long as she is able to perform her job duties. In the event an employee is unable to perform her job due to pregnancy related conditions, then she should be treated as any other temporarily disabled employee. As with other types of discrimination, it is also unlawful to retaliate against an employee who has filed a pregnancy discrimination charge or otherwise opposes any employment practices that discriminate because of pregnancy.

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is another act that in part is designed to give protections to pregnant employees among others. It requires employers to grant twelve weeks of unpaid leave to an eligible employee for the birth or adoption of a child, or to care for oneself or a child, spouse, or parent suffering from a serious health condition. The FMLA also requires that the employer restore the employee to the same or an equivalent job upon his or her return to work. To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have been employed for at least twelve months and must have worked at least 1,250 hours during the twelve months prior to the leave. Employees at work locations with less than fifty employees are not eligible for leave unless the employer has fifty or more employees employed within seventy-five miles of the work site. An employee may take twelve weeks of FMLA leave once every twelve months; employers may adopt a policy defining the applicable twelve-month period.

The number of claims filed for pregnancy discrimination was down slightly in 2005 (approximately 4700) from 2004, but has a significant overall increase since 1992. If you feel you have been discriminated against due to pregnancy, you should contact a pregnancy discrimination attorney to go over the details of your situation and help you determine what course of action to pursue.

Do I Have A Pregnancy Discrimination Case in Texas?

Discrimination Information Center

The Pursley Law Firm has an experienced Gender Discrimination Lawyer that can help you if you have experienced gender or sex discrimination in your place of employment. The Gender Discrimination Attorney at the Pursley Law Firm is able to represent claimants almost anywhere in Texas, especially in the cities of Dallas, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and El Paso.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibits discrimination in compensation on the basis of an employee’s sex. Equal work must be rewarded with equal pay unless the pay differential is based on a bona fide system in terms of seniority, merit, productivity, quality, or another factor not related to sex. Equal work means work of substantially equal skill, effort, and responsibility, performed under substantially similar working conditions. The job titles may be different, but as long as the essential skill and responsibilities of the job are the same, then the pay should be the same, regardless of whether the position is held by a man or a woman. As with any discrimination charge being made, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff or claimant.

Title VII also makes it unlawful for an employer to “fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual” because of that individual’s sex. These issues of unequal pay or disparate treatment between the genders have been complicated by the traditional cultural and biological roles of women, and by stereotypical assumptions about what women can do, should do, and want to do. Collectively, these and other less readily identifiable barriers have been called the “glass ceiling;” meaning women can only reach the glass ceiling, while their male counterparts are above it and them. This type of discrimination occurs, for example, when an employer intentionally excludes women from certain jobs based on a belief or stereotype that women cannot or should not perform that type of work. An employer also engages in unlawful unequal treatment discrimination if it classifies jobs as “male” or “female,” or maintains separate lines of progression or separate seniority lists based on sex, where this practice adversely affects any employee (unless sex is a bona fide occupational qualification for that job).

In addition to Title VII, the Texas Statutes also strictly prohibit these two types of gender discrimination. In civil actions for sex discrimination, a court may award, among other things, limited compensatory and punitive damages in amounts corresponding to the caps imposed by the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The plaintiff may also recover back pay for a maximum of two years from the date the complaint was filed, subject to offsets for earnings, workers’ compensation, and unemployment compensation. In addition, the plaintiff may recover attorneys’ fees and costs, including experts’ fees. There is no need to undergo financial hardship when you have been discriminated against because of your gender. Contact an employment attorney that is experienced in cases of sex discrimination.

Federal government employees are protected from workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Currently, no federal protections exist by law for private sector or state employees. However, many states have enacted laws (contact your employment lawyer to discuss) prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in both private and public jobs. These states are as follows: California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. There are eight states that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public workplaces including: Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington. Texas is notably not on the list.

Many companies have policies which prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Furthermore, a large number of cities and counties have passed ordinancesagainst this form of discrimination. However, most municipalities found in the state of Texas have not been as aggressive enforcing these policies and laws where applicable, as compared to other locations throughout the United States. Often, although a claim for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation may not be viable in Texas; other types of claims may be asserted depending on the facts pertinent to your case. Also, different parties may be liable on the basis of their actions. On an individual level where facts support applicable legal charges; claims may be made for assault, battery, invasion of privacy, defamation, tortuous interference with an employment contract, and sometimes wrongful termination.

Do I Have A Gender Discrimination Case in Texas?

Discrimination Information Center