Most employees in virtually all work realms spanning Michigan and the country don’t seek special on-the-job treatment.
What they do seek is a level playing field marked by equal opportunity and their managers’ even-handed conduct extended toward all employees. They justifiably don’t want to be on the short end of the stick when it comes to promotion, solicited feedback, workplace inclusion and other job matters.
Like wage equity, for example, especially when it becomes manifestly clear that the pay they receive is comparatively low solely because of an employer’s discriminatory policies.
Federal and state laws safeguard against that, as we duly note on our website at Sterling Attorneys at Law in Bloomfield Hills. Employees who are victimized by disparate pay compared with colleagues owing solely because of a specific attribute like age, race, national origin, religion or another “protected class” have strong remedies against injustice.
That reality was clearly on display recently in a case where four Sterling clients received a $1.46 million settlement in a pay-linked gender discrimination lawsuit they filed in a Michigan federal court.
The plaintiffs – all professors at the Northern Michigan University College of Business – produced evidence showing that, while their qualifications were at least equal to those held by male colleagues, they experienced a wage gap that was in some instances more than 70%.
The case was filed in February last year, with the settlement announced just weeks before trial was slated to commence.
One of the plaintiffs noted in a post-settlement statement her hope that the filed litigation and its outcome will “inspire others to pursue justice.”
Questions or concerns regarding any workplace discrimination matter can be addressed to a proven employment law legal team.