Sexual Discrimination
Technically, an employer's discrimination based on a an employee's refusal to submit to sexual advances is sexual harassment, which is a subset of discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act ("FEHA"). However, there are some cases where, in an attempt to hide the harassing nature of the acts, the employer denies a promotion or a raise and attempts to tie the discriminatory actions to "pretextual" business reasons in order to make the actions appear lawful. This is perhaps the most insidious type of unlawful sexual discrimination and therefore is distinguished here so that patterns may be recognized. Additionally, the California Supreme Court recently decided the case of Miller/Mackey v. California Department of Corrections, holding that a sexually discriminatory/harassing environment may be created where a supervisor or employer shows favoritism based on the submission to sexual requests such that it permeates the work environment.
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