Can she be fired for because of discrimination?

[Lea_Greene]

Hi guys,
I had a question.
My wife works at a prison (men's prison, can't say where). As an employee there, she is the only female. So she's around men all day long.
One of her co-workers doesn't want women working at the prison. This guy is a real weasel, always ratting out every other employee (as well as making things up to make everyone mad). He's constantly trying to get people fired. Since he doesn't want my wife working there, he's been telling her superior that she's "compromised", pretty much reporting that he thinks she's being inappropriate/romantic/sexual with inmates. He's made a complaint to my wife's superior, and he's also spreading the rumor around with his co-workers.

The thing is, my wife is a lesbian (we're both female). She is not attracted to men at all. She's just not a huge jerk to the inmates because that's how she was taught in academy. There is no way that anything inappropriate is going on (I know for sure, otherwise I wouldn't be supporting her).

Can her place of employment write her up or fire her because of her co-worker spreading rumors and taking it to the office? Even though she's a lesbian and there is zero proof or evidence pointing to anything going on?

A lot of this is because she's a woman. Some of the other peace officers talk to the inmates and this co-worker doesn't report them as being "compromised".

We are in Nevada, by the way.

 

[cbg]

CAN she? Yes, of course she can. Whether she LEGALLY can or not depends on the specific facts.

WILL she? No possible way to say. IF she is, come on back with some actualities and we'll be able to address whether it was legal or not. We can't tell based on what-ifs.

 

[commentator]

If there is going to be any possibility of an EEOC suit, your wife needs to begin keeping careful records of specific incidents of harassment that have happened, specific things she is sure that this person has said and done to her. Also, she needs clearly and verbally to make it known to this person that she feels he is treating her poorly and that she would like to ask him not to do this. No need to threaten, just be sure she has explained that she's being treated differently than the men on the staff. Then she begins to make her complaints known to his supervisors, the people higher up in the hierarchy than him. Again, no threats, just that she needs to make them aware of the problem she is having with Ronnie Redneck, how he is treating her differently, she believes, based on sex, how he has made several accusations against her that have no justification.

It would be a complete waste of time to file any sort of EEOC complaint, even if she is fired, if she has not let her supervisors know what is going on and tried to solve the problem internally. All they'd have to say is, "We didn't know there was a problem. If she had told us about it, we would've corrected it!" and they're way off the hook.

 

[shegerianlaw]

Your wife should keep a record or she can complain of her co- worker with superior. There are numerous law for LGBT discrimination, depends on from which state you belong. Houston’s LGBT anti-discrimination bid had already passed in 2014, but a lawsuit placed the ordinance back in the hands of voters. This is a frequent pattern for similar ordinances in cities that allow an ordinance to be repealed under certain circumstances. In California, anti-discrimination laws prevent LGBT workers from being discriminated against in all companies except those with fewer than 5 workers. The language of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity, providing an entirely separate protected category for LGBT workers.

Not only are LGBT workers protected based on actual sexual orientation and gender identity in California, they are also protected under a more far reaching rule. California law protects LGBT workers from discrimination based on even the perceived notion of sexual orientation and gender identity as well. These protections were added in 2004, when the FEHA was amended to place LGBT workers under the hedge of protection offered by state anti-discrimination employment laws.

 

[Proserpina]

Your wife should keep a record or she can complain of her co- worker with superior. There are numerous law for LGBT discrimination, depends on from which state you belong. Houston’s LGBT anti-discrimination bid had already passed in 2014, but a lawsuit placed the ordinance back in the hands of voters. This is a frequent pattern for similar ordinances in cities that allow an ordinance to be repealed under certain circumstances. In California, anti-discrimination laws prevent LGBT workers from being discriminated against in all companies except those with fewer than 5 workers. The language of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity, providing an entirely separate protected category for LGBT workers.

Not only are LGBT workers protected based on actual sexual orientation and gender identity in California, they are also protected under a more far reaching rule. California law protects LGBT workers from discrimination based on even the perceived notion of sexual orientation and gender identity as well. These protections were added in 2004, when the FEHA was amended to place LGBT workers under the hedge of protection offered by state anti-discrimination employment laws.

Did California absorb Nevada overnight?

 

[commentator]

In any state, I recommend that she both keep a record AND talk with a supervisor about her co-worker's behavior before she moves on to any sort of complaint about discrimination.

 

[shegerianlaw]

Did California absorb Nevada overnight?

Sorry I am not saying it about Nevada. I write it about California.

 

[cbg]

Since the OP is in Nevada, CA law is irrelevant.

 

[I'mTheFather]

Sorry I am not saying it about Nevada. I write it about California.

I have to disagree with the bolded. You didn't write it. You copied and pasted it from another site. Now, maybe you are the owner of the site. Are you? You are using that law group's name. Perhaps you're an employee. Does your employer know you're posting under his name?