Female executives and managers are fewer in number than males in many US industries according to a government study. In management occupations in business and financial operations, women hold just 42% of the management positions. US employers promote males to high level executive management positions in larger numbers than the females. For employment title/positions as “Chief Executives”, the gap is even larger: executives who are women hold only 31% of the title/positions as “Chief Executives”. The demographics of employees who are classified as a “General and Operations Manager” is 72% males to 28% females. Some occupations have a larger disparity of the men to women ratio in management positions. For example, in the business of sales for business and financial and lending institutions, only 32% of the sales managers are women.
I have represented women who worked for private employers, including banks and lending institutions, who were passed over for promotions in favor of less qualified men and was successful in recovering money for them.
The protections against sex discrimination were made even stronger with the passage of the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act. Some law-savvy but unscrupulous employers will utilize games to makes it appear there is no illegal discrimination taking place. For instance, in one such lawsuit that I filed against a bank on behalf of a female long-term employee, although for years the bank kept promising her a promotion, whenever a position opened up for which she was qualified and to which she thought she would be promoted, the CEO would tell her she was “so valuable” to stay at that branch which had no internal problems, and they would move her to another branch, without giving her a promotion, telling her that the other branch was in such a state of disarray, they needed her skills there. While they did not terminate her, criticize or write her up (with a personal improvement plan or “P.I.P.”), they instead constantly praised her work, knowledge, sales, and her interpersonal and communication skills. While her initiative and work was largely responsible for growing the client base and profit margin of the bank, the employer bank just held out “the carrot and the stick” until she finally had enough. The matter was resolved with six figure settlement monies.
While the gender gap is not only about money, money is the issue, the reason why many women stay at employment positions they would otherwise leave if they did not have hopes of promotion to managerial and executive positions with the accompanying increase in salary.
If you are a qualified female who is passed over for promotions in favor of a male, you may have a claim under the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act. If you are a female executive who is making less than your comparable male counterparts, your employer may be violating your civil rights.
It can be illegal for an employer to promote less or equally qualified male employees to executive positions while passing over more qualified or equally qualified female employees.
If you are an managerial female employee or an executive who is not give raises on par with your male counterparts, you may have a claim for unequal pay under the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act. I have represented numerous NJ employees whose employers illegally discriminated against them in wages and salary and was successful in recovering money for them.
This Act awards trebles damages to a plaintiff who was illegally discriminated against in pay because of sex or gender (and other protected classes). It is not necessary that you have the exact same job title. This Act makes it mandatory to not discriminate in pay if the workers are doing substantially similar job functions, even when the titles differ. As to pay disparity, other factors at times may apply however, such as the number of years the employees worked for the company, etc.
If You Are Thinking of Resigning
If you are thinking of resigning, you should contact this office immediately before you do so, to explore your options in the safest possible way for you. If you believe your employer is discriminating against you because you are a member of a protected class such as sex, race, age, disability etc., you should contact this office immediately. I am successful in filing lawsuits on behalf of workers who were discriminated against at work and in recovering money to compensate them.
If you think your employer is violating the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act or is discriminating against you, you should call this office today. I am an aggressive and compassionate employment law attorney who is experienced in successfully representing persons who were subjected to discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the workplace and/or were fired. If you have experienced discrimination at work, or if you reported it and no action was taken, if you are thinking of resigning, or think you will be fired, or have been fired, it is important that you consult with an attorney who is experienced in employment discrimination.
If you are being subjected to workplace discrimination, contact Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law today for a free consultation.
Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law serves clients throughout New Jersey, including Bergen, Middlesex, Essex, Hudson, Monmouth, Ocean, Union, Camden, Passaic, and Morris Counties with locations in southern, central, western and northern NJ to meet with clients.