How Do I Know If I Have a Sex Discrimination Claim?

Showing up to work every day can be an extremely stressful and difficult task if the work environment is toxic and abusive, especially if you experience sex discrimination. If you are being unfairly treated because of your sex, this can cause you quite a bit of internal turmoil and prevent you from being able to perform in your role at the highest professional levels. While you want to do your best at work, it can be incredibly hard when you are being discriminated against.

If you work in or around the greater Chicago area and you believe that you have been the victim of gender-based discrimination, then it could be worthwhile to take your case to an experienced Chicago sex discrimination attorney. At North Suburban Legal Services, you can meet with a seasoned legal professional that can examine your situation and advise you of your best legal options to respond.

What is Sex Discrimination?

According to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sex discrimination happens when a person is being given unfavorable treatment based on their gender, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, or when pregnancy exists. The laws are clear when it comes to discrimination. This type of behavior is unlawful.

In terms of employment, discrimination in any form is not tolerated and if it exists, employers can face penalties. All operations within a company or organization should be free from prejudice. This means that an employee’s ability to have access to training, benefits, pay increases, professional opportunities, hiring, and more is forbidden to be limited by discrimination.

Any employee can be subject to sex discrimination, men, women, and people in the LGBTQ+ community. But, a report by the Pew Research Center indicates that in the United States, 42% of working women were the victim of gender-based discrimination. The report highlighted several forms of sex discrimination that women suffered. Two examples include being paid less than their male counterparts in the same professional roles and not being given consideration for meaningful professional opportunities.

Steps to Take If You Believe You Have Been the Victim of Sexual Discrimination

If you are not being fairly treated at your place of employment and you think that what you are experiencing is because of your gender, then you could be the victim of sex discrimination. Talking to an experienced Shaumberg sex discrimination lawyer at North Suburban Legal Services is one way to have your situation examined and to obtain valuable feedback about what you can do.

The more documentation that you have on your side will only benefit your case. So, the following actions can prove to be very helpful for you to support your discrimination allegations:

• Think about when the discrimination happened and write down all of the details of how it transpired. Make sure that you have the date and time the incident took place, the names of the people who were involved, what was said, and any other relevant information pertaining to the incident.
• If you have emails, texts, phone messages, screenshots, or other physical evidence and information about the discrimination event make sure to save it all and make copies so you do not lose anything.
• Write down the physical, emotional, and professional impact that the discrimination event had on you.
• If there were residual damages like financial burdens you suffered because of your discrimination event, make sure to keep any receipts showing those costs. For example, if you were let go and you had to take on the extra expenses of driving to and from interviews. Or, maybe the incident was so egregious and shocking it caused you to develop mental health issues like depression and you had to pay for medication and for sessions with a psychiatrist.
• If any other person witnessed what happened to you, heard about what took place, or you had discussions about your treatment with a colleague that is sympathetic to your cause you can see if they would be willing to be named in your claim.
• If there are other examples with other employees where potential sex discrimination took place these should be documented and those individuals may also be willing to work with you.
• Get a copy of the employee handbook to see if there are guidelines regarding procedures and policies that your company follows. Also, a copy of your employment contract can be useful.
• If there were more than one occasion where you were discriminated against, take the same steps in documenting the incident and gathering supporting information.

It is critical to the outcome of your case that you have as much supporting evidence as possible. It is also essential that you have qualified and knowledgeable legal counsel on your side representing your best interests.

Making A Complaint

Once you have all of the appropriate materials you can look over everything and determine if what you collected is strong enough to show that you have a valid case for making a complaint of sex discrimination. If your evidence is solid, it will be able to support your position that you have been the victim of discrimination on the job. Then, you can speak to your employer about the incident and your concerns.

When you do meet with your employer, make sure to also keep records on how that interaction went and what the resolution was. Perhaps your employer will understand your concerns and be able to address them fittingly. Perhaps not. But, at least at this point, you have gone through each step of the process properly. If you are not satisfied with the result a Chicago sex discrimination attorney at North Suburban Legal Services can advise you of your rights and may be able to help you secure the most favorable outcome.

Speak To A Chicago Sexual Discrimination Attorney Today

When you make a claim against your employer regarding the issue of sex discrimination against you, your employer can really give any reason for why they behaved the way they did. The court will determine if their reason is legitimate or not and if it was discriminatory or not.

The Chicago anti-discrimination lawyers at North Suburban Legal Services are here to help when you need assistance with your workplace sex discrimination case. Call today to schedule a free consultation at (312) 909-6089.