Employment Law Blog

In the #MeToo era, working women in a range of jobs and industries are saying, "Enough." In a recent, shocking example, six former cheerleaders have taken legal action against the Houston Texans football team and cheerleading coach, alleging they worked in a hostile environment where body shaming, intimidation and bullying occurred regularly. This type of treatment is considered sexual harassment, a form of sex discrimination, and is illegal under federal law.

Founded on the principles of equality and freedom, the United States is frequently referred to as a cultural melting pot. Spanning from California to New York, our country’s rich and diverse landscape is comprised of people of varying nationalities, ideologies, races, and religions. While this diversity is traditionally celebrated as a positive and defining attribute, members of some racial and religious minorities suffer harassment and discrimination in both their personal and professional lives.

In a recent ProPublica poll of some 3,000 Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh New York City residents, nearly 40 percent reported suffering acts of verbal and physical harassment, discrimination, or assault. These acts spilled over into victims’ workplaces, with many reporting extreme emotional distress and financial losses.

Most of us would never think to ask someone - much less a co-worker - how much money he or she makes. In fact, in most U.S. workplaces, the subject of salary and pay remains taboo. With the impetus of the "Me Too" movement, however, the subject of pay and, specifically, the disparity between how much female employees earn versus their male counterparts is getting more attention.

For more than 50 years, women have been an important fixture in workplaces throughout the U.S. Today, nearly 50 percent of U.S. women work outside the home and a record number hold managerial and executive positions. When it comes to pay and overall compensation, however, statistics show that female employees consistently lag behind.

In previous decades, the real-life and on-the-job experience that workers 40 and older brought to the workplace was valued by employers that, in an effort to retain seasoned workers, willingly doled out promotions and higher salaries. This included technology companies like IBM.

Today, newer high-tech companies like Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon thrive on business models driven by innovation as these companies capitalize on their ability to anticipate and quickly adapt to economic and market shifts and changes. These high-tech companies also widely attribute their success to their ability to attract and retain skilled millennial employees.