united-states discrimination
Is This Workplace Discrimination? What should I do about it?
<p>So I work at an large company, dealing with automotive related services. Most of the stores (and employees in general) are guys. Today a girl applied at my current store. Female employees are not unheard of, but very uncommon. I heard my manager talking to another employee as to why he will not hire her. The reasons he cited were:</p>

<ul>
<li>"She's <em>too</em> pretty. It'll be a conflict of interest for the guys.</li>
<li>"She looks like she weighs 120. What happens when she has to lift something heavy?"</li>
<li>"She only wants the job because she's interested in drag racing"</li>
</ul>

<p>I wasn't involved in the conversation or the hiring process and I'm quitting soon anyways, but I'm pretty sure this type of discrimination is illegal...and on top of that, wrong. Ethically, I feel like I should do <em>something</em>, I'm just not sure what the best thing to do would be.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>My first thought was to find her application, and email her, telling her the conversation I overheard. Though I think going through her application would be illegal...</p></li>
<li><p>Emailing somebody who is even higher than my boss. (Assistant Vice President, Vice President, or even the CEO) The problem with this is</p>

<ul>
<li>I'd have to find their email address, which I don't know and asking would sound suspicious since I'm leaving</li>
<li>I've met my AVP and I doubt anything would be done about this. The company has one of those "good old boys" type of things; everyone in the company started out at the same position and worked their way up, so a lot of managers are friends with the AVPs and VPs...</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>

<p>What would be the best thing for me to do in this situation?</p>

<p>It is discrimination, but not necessarily sexist or unlawful because the criteria you cited could apply to either gender. But that's for others to deliberate. If you can legally obtain her contact info, it would probably be best to let her know so she can pursue it if she wants to. It can be reported to EEOC.</p>
