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.