If you’ve been keeping up with our Pride Month series, you know that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination against LGBTQ+ workers. You may have some questions about gender stereotypes.
It’s important to know that an employer may not take discriminatory actions, even if they’re requested or seemingly-justified by customer or client preferences. What this means is that an employer can’t fire, refuse to hire, or discriminate against someone because a customer says he’d prefer to work with people with a different sexual orientation or gender identity.
And, further, employers can’t segregate employees based on customer preferences. For instance, an employer can’t keep LGBTQ+ employees out of customer-facing positions.
Also under Title VII, an employer can’t discriminate against an employee because the employer believes the employee doesn’t conform to gender stereotypes. It doesn’t matter whether the employer knows the employee’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The employer simply can’t discriminate against men acting in stereotypically feminine ways or against women acting in stereotypically masculine ways.
We hope you’ve learned a bit about federal law and protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ workers from our Pride Month series.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact The Coppola Firm.
