But whether this "disparate impact" theory can be used for another important category of job discrimination, discrimination based on age, is an open question.
Ms. Diamantopoulou's office emphasizes that she was granted a mandate to combat sexual discrimination -- along with discrimination based on age, race, disability and religion, among other things -- in 1997 under the union's Treaty of Amsterdam.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and its subsequent amendments, prohibit employment discrimination based on age for those age 40 and older.
Noel Ragsdale, a University of Southern California law professor who specializes in employment issues, said that beauty-based discrimination is not, in fact, covered under current laws, which protect against discrimination based on age, sex, race, religion, disability and sexual orientation.
The New York State Court Of Appeals ruled last week that the state's students cannot use The New York Human Rights Law-- which prohibits discrimination based on "age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, sex or marital status -- to get recognition of discrimination or get financial compensation for such discrimination.
Although it is illegal to exclude an older candidate based on age, there is still plenty of age discrimination in the job market, said Robert P. Riordan, a partner in the labor and employment practice of the law firm Alston & Bird in Atlanta.
She said that she did not land a job interview, which she attributed to discrimination based on age and salary.
That would violate the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibits discrimination based on age, race, gender and other criteria.
That office "examined complaints of discrimination based on age and or sex in career services and found no evidence of such and no violation of university policy," Rutgers said in a statement.
Ross's suit comes less than a week after two black women in their sixties filed a class action lawsuit against their boss at the New York Times, alleging that the paper's chief executive Mark Thompson created an office culture of "deplorable discrimination" based on age, race and gender.
