Q: Employment Discrimination
Is it employment discrimination when a White woman with a black male supervisor is paid more than the supervisor? Is it racial discrimination, Gender, or both? Should I be compensated at a salary comparable to the white female who reports to me as their supervisor.
A: Not necessarily. In the legal employment discrimination analysis, you compare yourself to employees in the same or similar position to your position, or performing the same duties as you. Those employees are called "comparator" employees. Also, if the person you are supervising has more seniority than you, with periodic raises from a salary that was lower than the salary of a supervisor in the year she started, that may be a legitimate justification for the underling making more than the supervisor. If I were you, I possibly might want to ask the employer if it would be willing to give me a raise because I'm making less than the underling. Even if the employer would decline to give a raise, perhaps it would give a reasonable explanation, such as seniority. However, if you have more seniority with the company than the underling, and there is no apparent justification for the difference in wages, consult an employment discrimination attorney.
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