The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it easier for workers who are transferred from one job to another against their will to pursue job discrimination claims under federal civil rights law, even when they are not demoted or docked pay.
Workers only have to show that the transfer resulted in some, but not necessarily significant, harm to prove their claims, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court.
The justices unanimously revived a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by a St. Louis police sergeant after she was forcibly transferred, but retained her rank and pay.
Sgt. Jaytonya Muldrow had worked for nine years in a plainclothes position in the department’s intelligence division before a new commander reassigned her to a uniformed position in which she supervised patrol officers. The new commander wanted a male officer in the intelligence job and sometimes called Muldrow “Mrs.” instead of “sergeant,” Kagan wrote.
Muldrow sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion and national origin. Lower courts had dismissed Muldrow’s claim, concluding that she had not suffered a significant job disadvantage.
At SpaceX it was a commonly known risk to be let go for “performance reasons” when women employees got pregnant or even when it was found out that men employees’ wives got pregnant, since they wouldn’t be able to work 80 hours a week. An old coworker of mine worked there and said he never told anyone at the company when his wife got pregnant. The company was sued multiple times for sex discrimination from what I heard. A current coworker used to work at SpaceX when they shared offices with Tesla. She said she never felt safe there because the culture was so sexist and creepy.
They don’t say much about SpaceX in the article, but the sexual harassment tolerated at Tesla is just jaw-dropping. Things like overtly asking for a handjob or even sticking their leg between a woman’s legs.