A class action lawsuit that alleges sex discrimination in promotions and salaries was filed recently against Sterling Jewelers, the largest retail jeweler in the US.
The suit (see PDF) is filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and alleges that female retail employees were “denied promotional opportunities for which they were qualified, and [were] paid less than men performing the same work.”
According to the statement released by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the suit seeks “monetary relief, an order requiring the company to implement new policies and practices to prevent discrimination, training on anti-discrimination laws, posting of notices at the worksite, and other injunctive relief.”
New York District Director Spencer Lewis Jr. said, “We hope this case is a wake-up call to corporate America that sex discrimination in employment must be taken seriously and addressed appropriately….It should be a ‘no-brainer’ in the [twenty-first] century workplace that women deserve pay and promotional opportunities based on merit, and not gender.”
