Explaining Sexual Orientation Discrimination

San Diego Employment Lawyers
Explaining Sexual Orientation Discrimination

The law protects people from discrimination, and those who are protected enjoy this protection so that they can enjoy the same rights as anyone else.  There are different types of discrimination in existence that are based on gender, race and disability among others.  One of the emerging areas of litigation in recent years involves lawsuits dealing with discrimination based on sexual orientation.  If you or someone you love has been the target of this sort of conduct, seek the help of San Diego employment lawyers as soon as possible.  In the meantime, below is a brief overview of this issue.

Pre-Employment Issues

When someone is interviewing for a job, it is illegal for a prospective employer to ask the interviewee about his or her sexual orientation.  It is also illegal to refuse to hire an otherwise qualified person for a job on the basis of sexual orientation.  It should be noted that this works both ways – it is just as illegal for someone to refuse to hire a worker because he or she is heterosexual as it is to refuse to hire a worker because he or she is homosexual, transsexual or who is transgender.

Issues During Employment

After someone is hired for a job, the same basic prohibitions against discrimination based on sexual orientation are in place.  For instance, it is illegal to refuse to promote someone who has earned such a promotion on this basis.  It is also illegal to deny training or any other benefit that other workers are receiving based on this motivation.  Finally and obviously, workers cannot be harassed because of sexual orientation.

How San Diego Employment Lawyers Can Help

Basically, legal issues that deal with discrimination based on sexual orientation tend to come down to intent.  If an employer intended to do or not to do something based on sexual orientation, it could constitute discriminatory conduct.  Unfortunately, intent can be very difficult to prove, especially if nothing was documented in this regard.

However, experienced San Diego employment lawyers deal with these situations regularly, and the difficulty in proof should not deter anyone from enforcing his or her legal rights.  While every situation is somewhat different, patterns of conduct and utterances made in front of witnesses are two examples of evidence that could be used to help the cause of the person who has been subject to discrimination.

If someone files a lawsuit based on this conduct and it’s successful, the plaintiff could be awarded damages that include lost wages, attorneys’ fees and emotional distress among other possibilities.  If you or someone you love has been harmed by this conduct, contact the San Diego employment lawyers at Mitchell | Gilleon today to schedule a free initial consultation.