A Female’s Employee Rights

2005-06-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

A female employee is often subjected to discrimination and sexual harassment at work place. It is often seen case that they are denied employment or have to hear remarks about their capability at workplace. Most of the female employees are not aware about their rights as an employee at workplace. They often keep quiet about the unlawful behavior meted out to them. In order to protest and effectively fight for their rights, the female employee should know their rights at the workplace.

Every working female enjoys the same employee rights that are bestowed on a male colleague. Both Federal and State Laws have laws that prohibit discrimination against a female because of their protected status. A female employee cannot be denied a job or the privileges at work because of her being a woman. She cannot be paid less than her male colleague who holds the same position. The Equal Pay Act requires that both women and men be given equal pay for equal work in the same organization. The jobs need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) prohibits sexual harassment at workplace. Sexual harassment constitutes unlawful sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. If the female employee believes that she has been subjected to sexual harassment, she should immediately ask the harasser to stop the inappropriate conduct. The victim should use any employer complaint mechanism or grievance system available. If it still persists, the employee should file a complaint with the EEOC.

It is illegal to discriminate against a female employee at any stage of employment. A qualified female applicant cannot be denied employment because of being a women. She has equal right to promotion, vacation leave and other benefits provided by the employer.
EEOC also prohibits an employer from discriminating against a female employee because of her preganancy status. An employer cannot refuse to hire an applicant because of her pregnancy status, as long as she is able to perform the major functions of her job. It is illegal to ask a pregnant employee to perform certain duties to determine her ability to work. She cannot be demoted, fired or denied promotion because of her pregnancy. She has to be reinstated to the same position after coming back from Family and Medical Leave. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers to grant employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave with the right of reinstatement to the job because of the birth of a child and in order to care for the child.
It is imperative for the women to know about employee rights. It helps them in determining whether they are being treated at par with men at workplace or not. If not, they have equal rights to protest against discriminatory practices of the employer or file complaint with the relevant government agencies to be compensated.
Every women employee should document their employment records, in order to protect their rights. The Women employee can take the help of websites like mypersonnelfile.com to document their employment issues. The site has easy to use, correctly-worded, downloadable forms and letters that can help you record every aspect of your employment troubles. The site is also a complete resource on every aspect of employee rights, like harassment, discrimination, equal pay, privacy Rights, unemployment insurance and etc.