Eric on The Free Press

[Eric]

Um, pretty sure what they did to her is a straight up violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/title_vii#

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal employment law that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), and national origin. Title VII gives employees a private right to action . However, such claims cannot be brought against a specific individual, such as a supervisor. Rather, employers are subject to vicarious liability to violations caused by its managing employees. Adverse employment actions and hostile work environments are examples of circumstances that can support a claim under Title VII.

Adverse employment actions are actions that cause a significant change in employment status, such as hiring, firing, failing to promote, and reassignment with significantly different responsibilities. For example , an employee's reassignment to a more arduous and less prestigious position, due to her gender, constitutes an adverse employment action.

Under Title VII, a hostile work environment exists when the workplace is "permeated with discriminatory, intimidation, ridicule, and insult, that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim's employment and create an abusive working environment." For example , evidence of sexual harassment is sufficient to show a hostile work environment.