Home : Women's Rights : Employment

Paycheck Fairness Bill Necessary to Strengthen Equal Pay Protections (07/31/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union urges the House of Representatives to pass H.R. 1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would amend the Equal Pay Act, one of the most important laws addressing pay discrimination. The bill, with 230 co-sponsors to date, would strengthen and improve the effectiveness of the Equal Pay Act by requiring employers to demonstrate that differences in wages among employees are not based on gender, strengthening penalties for equal pay violations, bolstering the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) ability to handle pay discrimination cases, and requiring the EEOC to develop regulations directing employers to collect wage data, reported by race, sex and national origin, of employees.

Senate Committee Hears Testimony on Need for Fair Pay Legislation (01/24/2008)
Washington, DC – The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee held a hearing today on S. 1843, the “Fair Pay Restoration Act,” which would ensure that victims of workplace discrimination receive effective remedies. The bill’s companion measure, H.R. 2831, passed the House of Representatives in July, 2007. The ACLU urges the committee to support S. 1843 in order to fix a recent Supreme Court decision that undermines protections against discrimination in compensation that have been bedrock principles of civil rights laws for decades.

Abused Domestic Workers of Diplomats Seek Justice From International Commission (11/15/2007)
NEW YORK –Domestic workers who were exploited and abused in the U.S. by foreign diplomats petitioned an international commission today because U.S. domestic law denies them their rights and a way to seek justice.

Hearing Brings Modern-Day Slavery to Light, ACLU Urges State Department to Play Its Role in Stopping It (10/18/2007)
Washington, DC – Modern-day slavery exists in the shadows, but it is alive and well, said witnesses today at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The American Civil Liberties Union is urging Congress to add new safeguards that prevent the abuse, exploitation and trafficking of domestic employees by foreign diplomats and to remove the shield of diplomatic immunity that prevents these victims from holding the diplomats accountable.

La ACLU logra acuerdo negociado para mujeres inmigrantes en un caso de acoso sexual (08/29/2007)
NUEVA YORK – En una contundente reafirmación del derecho de las mujeres inmigrantes a trabajar sin temor a la agresión y al acoso sexual, la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles (ACLU, por sus siglas en inglés) anunció el día de hoy el acuerdo negociado en un caso que involucró a tres mujeres latinas que fueron acosadas por su patrón en una tienda de Manhattan.

ACLU Wins Settlement for Immigrant Women in Sexual Harassment Case (08/29/2007)
NEW YORK - In a resounding affirmation of immigrant women's right to work without fear of sexual assault and harassment, the American Civil Liberties Union today announced a settlement in a case involving three Latina women harassed by their employer in a Manhattan retail store.

ACLU Praises Senate Introduction of Pay Equity Legislation (07/20/2007)
Washington, DC - The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the Senate introduction of the Fair Pay Restoration Act, companion to H.R. 2831, Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. This bipartisan legislation would restore protections against pay discrimination that were undermined by the May 29, 2007 Supreme Court decision Ledbetter v. Goodyear.

ACLU Welcomes Pay Equity Legislation in the House of Representatives (06/22/2007)
Washington, DC - The American Civil Liberties Union applauded today’s introduction in the House of Representatives of the “Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007,” legislation aimed at clarifying the law regarding wage discrimination. On May 29, the Supreme Court ruled in Ledbetter v. Goodyear that workers cannot sue for wage discrimination that occurred years earlier. According to the 5-4 decision, the majority held that the plaintiff had no claim because she had not filed a complaint within 180 days of the initial discrimination.

ACLU Charges Kuwait Government and Diplomats With Abusing Domestic Workers (01/17/2007)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today charged the country of Kuwait and a Kuwaiti diplomat and his wife with trafficking three women and forcing them to work as domestic employees and childcare workers against their will under slavery-like conditions.

Undocumented Workers Bring Plea for Non-Discrimination to Human Rights Body (11/01/2006)
NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Employment Law Project and the Transnational Legal Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law today filed a petition urging the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to find the United States in violation of its universal human rights obligations by failing to protect millions of undocumented workers from exploitation and discrimination in the workplace.

Jury Sides with Women Workers, ACLU in Harassment Case (09/29/2006)
NEW YORK -- After a weeklong trial, a jury today found the owner of an upper Manhattan discount retail store guilty of assaulting and sexually harassing three Latina workers. The verdict comes in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project.

Female and Minority Custodians in New York Can Keep Benefits Won in Discrimination Case, Judge Rules (09/12/2006)
NEW YORK -- A federal judge in Brooklyn has upheld job benefits for female and minority school custodians in a case that has been in the courts for the past ten years. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents 22 of 59 custodians who were awarded benefits in 1999, called the decision an important victory against discrimination in the workplace.

ACLU Settles Case of Sexual Harassment and Labor Law Violations Against Manhattan Hotel (08/29/2006)
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union today settled a sexual harassment and wage and hour violation case brought in federal district court on behalf of four Latina employees of the Broadway Plaza Hotel.

Jury Finds Suffolk County Police Department Discriminates Against Pregnant Officers (06/14/2006)
NEW YORK -- The New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union today announced victory in a lawsuit against the Suffolk County Police Department. A federal jury found that the police department discriminated against women officers by denying them access to limited duty positions, like working the precinct desk, during their pregnancies.

Suffolk County Police Department Discriminates Against Pregnant Officers, NYCLU and ACLU Tell Court (06/05/2006)
NEW YORK -- The New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union today began a jury trial in federal court arguing that the Suffolk County Police Department discriminates against women officers by denying them access to limited duty positions, like working the precinct desk, during their pregnancies.

New Jersey Chinese Restaurant Settles Waitress Exploitation Lawsuit Brought by ACLU (05/02/2006)
FAIRVIEW, NJ -- The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it has settled a federal lawsuit against the Rainbow Buffet restaurant brought by two immigrant waitresses who say they were exploited and subjected to physical and emotional abuse.

Women Abused and Exploited by New Jersey Chinese Restaurant, ACLU Charges (10/31/2005)
NEWARK -- Two immigrant waitresses at the Rainbow Buffet restaurant in Fairview, New Jersey were exploited by their bosses, deprived of wages and tips, and subjected to physical and emotional abuse, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Appeals Court Clears Way for Restaurant Worker Exploitation Case to Continue (06/17/2005)
PHILADELPHIA -- The American Civil Liberties Union today announced that a federal appeals court has ruled that a sex discrimination and labor exploitation lawsuit brought by two immigrant waitresses against a New Jersey Chinese restaurant may continue.

ACLU Files Lawsuit on Behalf of Army Veteran Against Library of Congress for Transgender Discrimination (06/02/2005)
WASHINGTON, DC -- The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court here today against the Library of Congress on behalf of a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Army whose job offer was rescinded after she informed the organization that she was in the process of transitioning from male to female.

ACLU Argues That Exploited Restaurant Workers Should Not Be Denied Their Day in Court (05/26/2005)
PHILADELPHIA -- Before a federal appeals court today, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that a federal trial court wrongly dismissed a sex discrimination and labor exploitation lawsuit brought by two immigrant waitresses against a Chinese restaurant.