Rhode Island Employment Law Blog

There are few experiences more harrowing and disheartening than encountering sexual harassment in the workplace. Sexual harassment can take the form of inappropriate comments, sexual propositions or unwelcome touching. You are trying to earn a living and further your career, but a colleague's untoward advances can jeopardize this and make it difficult to do your job. What do you do when this happens?

This is unfair, but luckily, there is recourse following such an incident. The following three tips are the steps you should take immediately after any instance of sexual harassment. Though it is demoralizing, be proactive in protecting yourself from any further harassment by following these steps.

A previous post on this blog discussed how a workplace rule can in some cases be discriminatory. For instance, if the effect of the rule is to single out people of a certain religious persuasion, race, etc., then an employee who wound up being injured by the rule can seek compensation and other relief.

Unfortunately, though, proving discrimination can be a hard thing to prove. For example, in the case of a controversial workplace rule, an employer will usually be able to give some reason why their rules are important to workplace safety or the orderly operation of their business.

Although the law of Rhode Island requires employers in this state to pay employees the cash compensation to which the employer agreed, many employers choose to also offer other forms of compensation, the terms of which might not be so clear cut.

For example, as this blog has reported on previous occasions, many employers offer incoming executives stock options, generous retirement packages and other incentives to get them to come to work for the new employer, even if it means leaving a great position.

The gender wage gap refers to the difference in pay women and men receive. Despite having the same qualifications, positions and tasks, women tend to earn less money than men do. This discrepancy in payment is an example of gender discrimination in the workplace.

How prevalent is this practice and where does it happen the most? Forbes shared a study from PayScale that reveals the industries with the largest pay gaps between men and women. At the top of the list was finance and insurance, at just over 29 percent.