Sex Discrimination

 

The Sex Protected Class is very nuanced with multiple protection falling under this definition. Sex discrimination can be broken down into three distinctive categories:

• Gender Discrimination
• Pregnancy Discrimination
• Sexual Harassment

Gender discrimination

Gender discrimination happens when a person is treated differently based on their gender. This can include only assigning men to physical jobs or females to clerical jobs. At its root, gender discrimination is basing decisions, making assumptions, and/or comments due to a person's gender without any other consideration.

Pregnancy discrimination

This occurs when an employer treats a female employee or job applicant unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. Stereotypes against pregnant women and mothers, such as "women just want to be moms and don't want long-term jobs," and "women don't devote as much time to work when they have children," often lead to discrimination against women in the workplace.

Some other examples of potential sex discrimination:

• A woman who has short hair and dresses in pants cannot receive poor performance evaluations with comments about her lack of femininity and "aggressive" nature.
• A manager choosing to not hire a pregnant person over a less qualified applicant due to loss of work time for medical appointments and childbirth. This decision is based solely on pregnancy and not on any other factors.

An employer who has sex-based assumptions about women (for example, that they won't put in long hours or be willing to travel because of domestic responsibilities, or that they aren't as physically strong or technically proficient as men) is also discrimination.