Indianapolis Employment Law Blog

When people think of sexual harassment, they often think of women as the victims. However, this is not always the case. Men are also victims of harassment at the workplace and more males have come forward to report this offense. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 7,609 people filed sexual harassment reports in 2018. Approximately 15.9% of those claims were filed by males, a substantial increase from the 11% of claims that were filed in 1997. This number is thought to be even higher, however, as some men are too embarrassed or ashamed to report these types of incidents. 

Sexual discrimination can come in a number of forms, including unwanted sexual advances, comments or requests for sexual favors. Employees may be told they are not able to advance in their career if they do not submit to the advances or bribed with an incentive if they go along with the unwanted behavior. Men can be harassed by other male or female co-workers or managers. 

As a woman making your living in Indiana, you are about twice as likely as your male colleagues to experience gender discrimination in your place of employment. At the Employment Law Office of John H. Haskin & Associates, LLC, we recognize the disparity between the number of men and women who experience this type of treatment on the job, and we have helped many women who fell victim to gender discrimination pursue appropriate recourse afterward.

According to the Pew Research Center, 42% of female employees in the United States say they have experienced gender discrimination at some point during their careers, compared with only 22% of male employees. While gender discrimination can potentially take on any number of different forms, there are certain aspects of it that also tend to impact female workers far more frequently than male ones.

Some people do not take age discrimination seriously, whether they think that older workers and job applicants should simply accept the fact that they can be turned away due to their age or they do not understand how serious discrimination of any form can be. Unfortunately, age discrimination can turn the lives of workers and those applying for a position upside down in various ways. Age discrimination can result in many harsh consequences, not only from a financial perspective but in terms of one's emotional health and future opportunities as well.

As with other forms of discrimination in the workplace, age discrimination may occur in a number of ways. Whether someone is fired solely because of their age, they are not paid fairly, they are subjected to serious harassment or they are discriminated against while applying for a job that they are fully qualified for, any instance of age discrimination is unacceptable. Victims of age discrimination may feel humiliated, angry or depressed. They may have anxiety with regard to their employment opportunities and financial circumstances and they may not know how to move forward.

Across the nation, including in Indiana, the nation continues to struggle at times with how to protect the rights of workers based on varying criteria. Since the 1960s, the Civil Rights Act has been invoked on multiple occasions to protect employees from unfair discrimination. It is specifically Title VII of that legislation that expressly prohibits employers from discriminating against people in specific identified protected classes.

The protected classes include people of a specific religion, ethnic background or country of origin. Sex is another factor on which employees are supposed to be free of concern about being discriminated against. However, it has come to light that the term "sex" in the context of the law is somewhat ambiguous. As reported by Vox, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has indicated it considers sexual orientation and gender identity to be inherently included in "sex" insofar as Title VII protections are concerned. Not everyone seems to agree with this, however.