workplace discrimination

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New Executive Order to Give LGBT Rights a Boost

Obama to ban LGBT discrimination for federal contractors

(Newser) - President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of their sexual orientation, a White House official said today. The move follows years of pressure from gay rights groups for Obama to act on his own while a broader employment...

7 GOP Senators Push Gay Rights Bill Over Hurdle

ENDA moves forward; faces tough fight in House

(Newser) - A bill banning workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians looks certain to pass the Senate after clearing a key hurdle last night with Republican help, Roll Call reports. The chamber voted 61-30 to move forward with the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a move that lifts ENDA past filibuster and all but...

GOP Mega-Donor Trying to Make Party More Gay-Friendly

Paul Singer is pushing for a workplace anti-discrimination bill

(Newser) - Chris Christie has stopped fighting gay marriage , but most other Republican politicians aren't so willing. So how can the party appear a little less ... hateful? GOP "mega-donor" Paul Singer thinks he has the answer. He's spearheading a push for the party to back less divisive gay rights—...

Women Make 77 Cents for Every Dollar a Man Makes

Census Bureau shows little change in recent years

(Newser) - The gap in pay between men and women seems officially stuck in place: New Census Bureau stats show that women earned 76.5 cents for every dollar that men made in 2012, an amount that hasn't changed much in a decade, reports the Wall Street Journal . Overall, men who...

Abercrombie Loses Muslim Headscarf Suit

Chain was wrong to fire worker, judge rules

(Newser) - More controversy for Abercrombie & Fitch: A Muslim stockroom worker fired for wearing a headscarf has won her anti-discrimination case against the clothing chain, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A federal judge ruled the chain violated the religious rights of the woman and there was no "credible evidence" to...

US Sues BMW, Says Criminal Checks Were Discriminating

70 black workers after background probes

(Newser) - The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against BMW for using criminal background checks to screen out employees—a practice, it says, which put 70 black employees out of a job, the Washington Post reports. The background, as per an EEOC press release : A BMW plant in South...

Canned Obese Employee Sues, Gets $55K

680-pound Ronald Kratz II says he was fired for being fat

(Newser) - When 680-pound Ronald Kratz II got fired from his job, he was pretty sure it was for being too fat. Now his old company is giving him $55,000 and six months of outplacement services in a legal settlement, reports the Houston Chronicle . With the help of the US Equal...

Senate Republicans Block Equal Pay Bill

Democrats hope to score points in November

(Newser) - Senate Republicans today blocked a Democratic bill calling for equal pay in the workplace. As expected, the bill failed along party lines, 52-47, short of the required 60-vote threshold. But for majority Democrats, passage wasn't the point. The debate itself was aimed at putting Republicans on the defensive on...

Female Workers Hit Walmart With New Class-Action Suits

Colossal nationwide suit split into regional cases

(Newser) - Four months after the Supreme Court decided that 1.5 million past and present female workers at Walmart couldn't be lumped together in a single class-action suit , the first of what promises to be a flood of fresh lawsuits have begun. The original plaintiffs—who say they were denied...

Busty Woman Told She Was 'Too Sensual' to Be Promoted

She's suing, with help from Gloria Allred

(Newser) - In a story that echoes that of Citibank's 'too hot' banker , a Florida woman has sued her former employer of 13 years for discriminating against her—because she was too busty. Managers at the Devereux Foundation allegedly told Amy-Erin Blakely that co-workers couldn't concentrate in meetings because they were distracted...

Muslims See More Workplace Discrimination

Even before mosque flap, Islamophobia was on the rise

(Newser) - A growing number of Muslims were reporting discrimination in the workplace even before the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” hysteria swept the country, the New York Times reports. In the year that ended last September, 803 Muslims filed federal complaints, with many alleging that co-workers had called them “Osama”...

'Macho' Goldman Sued for Sex Discrimination

Firm's a raunchy boys' club, plaintiffs charge

(Newser) - Three former employees who say the macho culture at Goldman Sachs scuttled their careers have launched a lawsuit against the bank and urged others to join them. The women's suit describes a testosterone-driven corporate culture of strip clubs, groping, boys-only golf outings, and macho displays like push-up contests on the...

Beware the 'Tyranny' of Beauty
 Beware the 'Tyranny' of Beauty 
opinion

Beware the 'Tyranny' of Beauty

Our culture's obsession with looks is a dangerous thing

(Newser) - Apparently, "looksism" is the new buzzword. We've got Debrahlee Lorenzana , the Citibank worker who says she was fired for being too hot, and American Apparel accused of weeding out job applicants for not being hot enough. Now Meghan Daum takes note of a new book (the Beauty Bias, by...

Hooters to Waitress: Get Fit or Get Fired

Server goes on 'weight probation,' considers suit

(Newser) - A Hooters server is considering a weight discrimination suit against the company after bosses told her she needed to slim down. Cassie Smith, who is 5-8 and 132 pounds, says she was told, "Your shorts and shirt size could use some improvement." The company gave her a free...

Strip Clubs, Lap Dances Part of Corporate Life in UK

Report finds widespread use of strip clubs for entertaining is 'threatening equality'

(Newser) - The sex industry has become a mainstream part of corporate culture in Britain and is damaging workplace equality, a report from a  women's group finds. Researchers found that many firms authorize the use of expense accounts for entertaining clients in lap dancing and strip clubs, and that most strip clubs...

Fired Disabled Woman: Abercrombie a 'Sweatshop'

Brit won nearly $15K for wrongful dismissal

(Newser) - The 22-year-old British student with a prosthetic arm who won nearly $15,000 in a discrimination lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch compares its working conditions to a sweatshop. “I found it disturbing,” Riam Dean tells the Daily Mail. “There were so many people in such a tiny...

Abercrombie Loses Lawsuit Over Clerk's Prosthetic Arm

(Newser) - The London woman banished to the Abercrombie & Fitch stockroom because of her prosthetic arm has been awarded more $13,000 by an employment tribunal, the BBC reports. Riam Dean wore a cardigan to cover the joint between her prosthesis and her body, but the sweater clashed with the retailer’...

Firefighter Ruling Leaves Guidelines as Muddy as Ever

Employers likely to ditch written tests altogether to avoid discrimination suits

(Newser) - Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling in favor of a group of white firefighters looks likely to be a boon for employment lawyers instead of cities seeking clear guidance, experts tell the New York Times. The court's ruling makes it harder for employers to chuck out tests that overwhelmingly favor whites, and...

Abercrombie & Fitch Sued By Disabled Clerk

Student 'hidden in back' because prosthetic arm didn't fit trendy 'look'

(Newser) - A British woman with a prosthetic arm is suing Abercrombie & Fitch for workplace discrimination, the Guardian reports. The trendy clothing retailer shifted her to backroom duties to hide her from customers, telling her that a cardigan she wore to cover the link between the prosthesis and her arm contravened...

Taller Workers Top Pay Ladder
Taller Workers Top Pay Ladder

Taller Workers Top Pay Ladder

Extra 4 inches adds 2%-3% in hourly wages for women and men, Aussie study says

(Newser) - Taller workers have a leg up when it comes to paychecks, AFP reports. An Australian study has found that every additional 4 inches of height adds 3% to a man's hourly wage and 2% to a woman's. Five inches of extra height earns a man the salary of a worker...

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