Workers in California should understand that discrimination based on gender is illegal.
A company called KPMG was the subject of a lawsuit in 2011 claiming that men and women were paid differently. It also claimed that there were disparities in how men and women were promoted. The case won conditional collection action status under the Equal Pay Act in 2014. A motion was filed in November 2018 to get class certification for plaintiffs in the case.
There are 1,112 current and former employees of the company who are a part of the case. The most recent motion was filed in the Southern District of New York and seeks to try the case under Title VII discrimination law.
If the motion is granted, there could be even more plaintiffs who join the case. According to the complaint against KPMG, male employees groped and otherwise sexually harassed women within the company.
Overall, the complaint states that there is a boys club atmosphere and that the company refuses to take steps to change the culture.
In turn, KPMG has said that the complaints have no merit and that it takes the issue of diversity seriously. However, the lawsuit states that there were multiple harassment complaints made that were waved off as signs of unprofessional behavior.
If workplace policies have a disparate impact on a group of people, they may be deemed as violations of employment law.
For instance, policies designed to promote men while ignoring women would generally be illegal. The same may be true if a company decided not to hire a person based on his or her gender or set pay rates based on race or national origin. Those who have been negatively impacted by such policies may benefit from hiring legal counsel.