Introduction to
Federal
Employment Discrimination Law
Compensation and Benefits
Unequal Pay - An unequal pay
claim involves an employee who is paid less for doing the same job, and the reason the
employee is paid less is because he or she is a member of a protected group. These cases
normally involve a female who is allegedly being paid less than her male counterpart. In
addition to suing under Title VII, a person can also sue under the Equal Pay Act if she
believes she is being paid less based on gender.
Case example: In
Mickelson v. New York Life Ins. Co., - F.3d - (10th Cir. 2006), a
Title VII gender or sex discrimination action, the court explains
different burdens of proof under Title VII and the Equal Pay Act where
the plaintiff is alleging unequal pay.
Retirement benefits
- An
example of this type of claim is an early retirement plan which pays more benefits to
younger employees than to older employees.
Case example:
In Coomer v. Bethesda Hosp., Inc.,
370 F.3d 499 (6th Cir. 2004), an ADEA age discrimination action, the
court found that the Hospital had nondiscriminatory reasons for treating
the younger employee more favorably.
Unequal Treatment
Training - Unequal treatment
claims are claims that do not fall neatly into any other category. A common type of
unequal treatment claim is an allegation of unequal training.
Case example: In
Beamon v. Marshall & Ilsley Trust Co.,
411 F.3d 854 (7th Cir. 2005), a Title VII race discrimination action,
the plaintiff argued that he was not given sufficient mentoring, but he
failed to identify any similarly situated white employees who received
greater or more meaningful mentoring.
Privileges of Employment
-
Remember that the "unequal treatment" must rise to the level of an adverse
employment action before an employee can sue for the unequal treatment under employment
discrimination laws.
Case example: In
Enowmbitang v. Seagate
Technology, Inc., 148 F.3d 970 (8th Cir. 1998), a Title VII national
origin discrimination action, the court held that the failure to provide
a computer or a poor evaluation (that is not used to the employee's
detriment) does not rise to the level of an adverse employment action.
