Employment Law Blog

Many industries, such as film and finance, are notorious for pervasive sexual harassment. The #MeToo movement arose from the numerous allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein after all. Sadly, a Medscape report shows that the healthcare industry is not immune from this physically and psychologically damaging behavior. One out of ten of all healthcare clinicians reported experiencing sexual harassment within the past three years.

The surveyed group includes nurses, physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. The reported harassment included:

Whether a business is a mom-and-pop shop or the namesake football team of the nation's capital city, sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination are illegal. Businesses of a certain size must comply with federal and its respective state's laws prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace.

Gloria Allred of Allred, Maroko & Goldberg is representing multiple wronged employees for, inter alia, claims of sexual harassment against the Washington Football Team. One client, a former cheerleader who alleges she was included in a secretly produced explicit video shown to the team's owner without her knowledge or permission, issued a statement through Ms. Allred stating that the use of her image in the lewd video is "reprehensible and appalling."

Workplace pregnancy discrimination is illegal. Yet, over the last 10 years, more than 50,000 pregnancy discrimination complaints have been filed with the EEOC and state human rights agencies. We know that pregnancy discrimination happens all too often, but a new study indicates that the consequences may be worse than many realized.

Researchers from Baylor University surveyed over 250 pregnant employees to measure their perceptions of pregnancy discrimination, their perceived stress level, and any postpartum depression symptoms. They also measured the babies' health outcomes, including Apgar score, gestational age, birth weight, and number of visits to the doctor

Allred, Maroko & Goldberg is elated to see that millions of LGBT and transgender individuals in the United States are now explicitly protected from workplace discrimination under federal law. Yesterday's landmark civil rights ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court finally made clear that Title VII prohibits an employer from firing, demoting, refusing to hire or otherwise discriminating against a worker based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The June 15, 2020 ruling combined ruling in three cases - two about discrimination against gay people and one about discrimination against a transgender person. Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's first appointee to the Supreme Court, wrote the 6-3 majority decision. The Court concluded unequivocally that when an employer fires an individual based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, "Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids."