According to a lawsuit filed against Vice Media on Feb. 13, the company violated equal pay laws in California. The lawsuit, which was filed by an employee who worked in management from 2014 to 2016, also alleges that New York equal pay laws and the Federal Equal Pay Act were violated.
The lawsuit says that the female employee hired a man as her subordinate, but he was paid $25,000 more a year than she was. Later, he was made her supervisor. She also says she reviewed the salaries of dozens of employees and found that women were regularly paid less than men for doing the same job. She asked for the lawsuit to be a class-action case and for people to be reimbursed for their pay disparity.
In late 2017, it was alleged that there had also been sexual harassment at Vice. The company paid out settlements for the harassment cases. In a statement, the company said that it was auditing its pay for parity and was aiming for equal representation of men and women at all levels. It also plans to create a diversity panel.
Discrimination in the workplace can take a number of forms, including religious discrimination and on the basis of national origin, sex, disability and more. In addition to pay disparity, a person might be denied certain assignments or a promotion.
An attorney may be able to advise a person as to how best to proceed in these situations. The person might want to document the incidents and try reporting the situation, but if the workplace does not investigate or investigates and finds nothing, the person may want to file a lawsuit.