In California and across the US, gender discrimination in the workplace is a reality. Recently, three female employees of Oracle Corporation won the right to represent thousands of other female workers at the company in a gender-discrimination lawsuit related to pay. Specifically, a California state judge will allow 4,000 women to sue Oracle Corporation for unequal pay, even though these women reportedly do the same job as their male colleagues.
A jury will need to decide if the jobs performed by women and men at Oracle Corporation are equal or similar, but it gives women the ability to fight for their rights under California’s Equal Pay Act. In the past, women at technology companies and other companies have had a difficult time securing equal pay. This issue dates back to 2011 when the U.S. Supreme Court blocked 1.5 million female workers from pursuing a group lawsuit against Walmart Inc.
This case related to employment law, filed by former Oracle employee Sue Peterson and two others, alleges that Oracle has underpaid women employees for years when compared with their male counterparts. The basis for this claim is that women and men at Oracle have “substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions.”
In response to this lawsuit, Oracle argues that men and women at the company are actually not doing the same job for unequal pay. Oracle claims these employees might have the same job codes, but that doesn’t mean the jobs require the same skills, effort levels, and responsibilities.
Workers who are faced with a gender-discrimination issue in the workplace might find that an employment law attorney could offer valuable assistance. All workers deserve fair pay for the job they perform regardless of gender.