Dive Brief:
- A bank teller may proceed with gender stereotyping claims after repeatedly being passed over for promotions, a federal district court has ruled.
- Among other things, the bank teller alleges she was told that she was "'too butch' to deal with customers," according to her complaint. Taking adverse employment actions against employees based on gender stereotypes amounts to gender discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- The court dismissed her sexual orientation discrimination claims, however, noting that applicable circuit precedent holds that “[u]nder Title VII, ‘sexual orientation is not a prohibited basis for discriminatory acts.’”
Dive Insight:
Federal appeals courts and the federal government itself are divided on whether Title VII prohibits sexual orientation discrimination.
The U.S. Supreme Court could soon resolve this split, and a group of high-profile companies like Apple and Google have urged the High Court to find that LGBTQ employees are protected by the law.
In the meantime, employment law attorneys urge employers to refrain from discriminating against workers based on their sexual orientation. The line between "sexual orientation" and "sex stereotyping" is a fine one, at most. And some courts have found that there's no line at all, ruling that taking action against a woman for dating another woman, for example, is obviously a form of sex stereotyping.
