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Our Office

  • Westport Office

    Address

    155 Post Road East
    Suite 11
    Westport, Connecticut 06880

    Phone

    203-226-9922

Choose a location to review

Richard L. Pate locations:

Ratings & Reviews

  • 5.0/5.0

    If your looking for someone who is going to be readily available to answer all questions- someone knowledgeable in their field & provides great service then Rich is your guy!

    — Client

  • 5.0/5.0

    I found myself in one of the worst employment situations that I have ever been in. I was getting bullied and harassed and after going to human resources twice I felt that I had no where else to go. After sitting down and talking to Attorney...
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    — Client

  • 5.0/5.0

    I cannot say enough great things about Attorney Pate. He was not only courteous and professional to me but very intelligent in dealing with employer. He not only demonstrated skill and professionalism while handling my case but showed extra...
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    — Client

  • 5.0/5.0

    . In a no charge consultation, he advised me to contact my human resources department regarding the incident. My company investigated the incident, and it seemed to have been resolved. Six months later, my company took what I believed to b...
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    — Client

Victims of Sexual Orientation Discrimination

Employers who treat workers or job applicants unfairly due to their sexual orientation are in violation of the law. Discrimination in the workplace can prevent gay, lesbian and transgender people from obtaining fair financial compensation, advancing in their careers and completing their work without fear. We take a hard stance against discriminatory employers.  If you were harassed, denied employment or benefits, passed up for a promotion, or otherwise singled out for unfair treatment because of your sexual orientation, we will fight to hold your employer accountable.

Unfortunately, LGBTQ people deal with both overt and subtle discrimination and harassment all too frequently.  We seek all forms of relief available under Connecticut laws and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines. Discrimination may exist in the form of unfair actions or policies related to:

  • Hiring, promotion and discipline — For any job, the same requirements should apply to people regardless of their sexual orientation. Additionally, job requirements should not exclude gay people significantly more than straight people, or vice versa. Employers may act improperly by only hiring or promoting workers of the same sexual orientation or by unevenly disciplining employees of different sexual orientations. Banning a woman from talking about her wife but allowing a man to talk about his wife, for example, may be considered sex discrimination.
  • Harassment — Sexually oriented slurs, lewd or derogatory comments, and the use of stereotypes cannot be tolerated in the workplace. When offensive behavior is frequent or severe enough to cause a hostile working environment or to result in negative employment decisions for my LGBTQ clients, I take legal action.
  • Pay and benefits — It is unjust for employers to determine a worker’s salary or benefits based on their sexual orientation. If you were paid less or offered lesser benefits than your coworkers of a different orientation, your employer may have acted against the law. Employers also act unfairly when they deny spousal health insurance benefits to the legal spouses of gay and lesbian employees.
  • Segregation — Isolating gay workers from customers or other employees based on actual or feared customer preference is not legal. The same goes for sending LGBTQ workers to assignments based on stereotypes about preferences or abilities.