In a recent Randstad study, roughly half of respondents admitted to not taking action after seeing a coworker make inappropriate comments to someone of the opposite sex at work. Just over half of the respondents said they knew a female worker who had been sexually assaulted at work. Gender discrimination at work is actionable in New York, and those who have experienced it may be entitled to recover money damages or other relief from their employers.
In the study, more than 33 percent of respondents said they’d witnessed someone in a position of authority take advantage of opposite-sex subordinates. Nearly a quarter of women who responded said they believed they had suffered career setbacks because they had refused the sexual advances of a supervisor. The report also found that people who are in a racial or ethnic minority group are more likely to experience harassment or gender discrimination at work.
Other important findings included that 36 percent of men believed women should not receive equal pay if they also got more family leave time. Nearly 66 percent of women said they would quit their jobs over the issue of unequal pay, but 71 percent said they did not mind if they earned less than male coworkers as long as they felt they were being compensated fairly.
Issues of gender discrimination on the job can range from incidents of quid pro quo or sexual harassment to unequal treatment of male and female coworkers. Often, a number of different issues might be raised by the same facts. In a case where an employee feels he or she has been discriminated against at work, an attorney might be able to help. An attorney with experience in employment law might be able to negotiate terms of settlement with the employer or bring a complaint alleging gender discrimination in civil court.
