Gender discrimination suit filed against Microsoft

On Behalf of | Oct 4, 2015 | Workplace Discrimination |

Sometimes businesses around the United States, including in Indiana, treat certain employees differently on the basis of gender. One woman in a recent out-of-state case said her former employer, Microsoft, engaged in gender discrimination while she was working at the company. She has since filed a gender discrimination class action suit against the business.

The woman played an instrumental role in developing the company’s bug bounty program, which led her to becoming an expert on vulnerability and disclosure policy. However, she said that she and other female employees in engineering and technical roles were subjected to pervasive and systemic discrimination. The discrimination came in the form of employment terms and conditions, promotions, pay, and performance evaluations.

Specifically, the company’s female workers were more likely to receive lower compensation and were not promoted as often due to the stack ranking system — in which employees were ranked from best to worst — that Microsoft used to evaluate worker performance. This policy was dropped back in 2013. Microsoft said it was dedicated to creating a diverse workplace that would allow all workers the opportunity to excel and that, after reviewing the allegations, it did not find anything to support the complaints.

Companies in Indiana are prohibited from discriminating against men and women simply because of their genders. When employers do this, it is within the rights of the impacted workers to file gender discrimination lawsuits. Remedies from such a lawsuit might include the coverage of expenses that the plaintiff had to pay out of pocket and even compensation for non-monetary losses, such as compensation for the loss of the enjoyment of life.

Source: csoonline.com, “Former employee files gender discrimination lawsuit against Microsoft“, Steve Ragan, Sept. 21, 2015

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