Everyone knows that a company may not discriminate against an employee for being male or female. (If this is news, stop reading this and run to see your lawyer. Immediately). But do you know that sub-classes of a protected class (females, for instance) are also protected? These are called “sex-plus” cases, which means the discrimination is based on sex-plus an additional criteria. This type of discrimination began to be recognized in the 1970s, when a case called Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp. was decided. In that case, a company would not hire women with young children, but would employ women without young children, as well as men with young children. Since then, other cases have found it illegal for companies to discriminate against other subclasses, such as black females (Jeffries v. Harris County Community Action Association) and women of a certain age (James v. Telflex, Inc.). Employers should follow policies which ensure they do not discriminate against members of a protected or sex-plus class.
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