IT IS ILLEGAL, BUT COMMON

Harassment and Discrimination

Discrimination in employment has been illegal in the United States in one form or another for over 50 years. Unfortunately, it is still quite common. The attorneys at Pelton Graham are here to help you understand and protect your rights.

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Discrimination is Prohibited

It is illegal to discriminate against applicants or employees because of a person’s race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to retaliate against a person because they complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.

Discrimination is prohibited in every aspect of employment, including:

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Worried Arabic businesswoman wearing hijab receiving a notification from a colleague in her workplace

Businessman sexually harassing female colleague during working hours at a workplace

Discriminatory practices often apply to a group of applicants or employees. In these cases, a class action may be appropriate to enforce individuals’ rights. Like consumer class actions, employment class actions seek relief for a large number of individuals damaged by the same actions.

We specialize in the following types of Harassment and Discrimination:

Gender Discrimination

Race Discrimination

ADA/Disability Discrimination

Sexual Harassment

LGBTQ Discrimination

Workplace Retaliation

Age Discrimination

Other Employment Discrimination

UNWELCOME CONDUCT

Harassment

Harassment is a specific type of employment discrimination and can also violate other civil and criminal laws.

Harassment in employment is unwelcome conduct directed against a person in a protected class. Harassment is unlawful if tolerating the offensive conduct is a condition of employment, or if the conduct creates a generally hostile work environment. Workplace harassment isn’t limited to sexual harassment, and can include people of the same gender. The harasser can be your boss, a supervisor in another department, a co-worker, or even a non-employee.

Other common types of harassment not based on the victim being in a protected class:

Sexual harassment, either quid pro quo (demanding sex for work benefits) or hostile environment created by comments, photos, jokes, offensive internet sites, etc.

Discriminatory harassment, such as ridiculing a person’s religion, heritage, sexual orientation, body size, etc.

Third party harassment by contractors, suppliers, customers, and other non-employees.

During job interviews, questions about marital status, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy, etc. may not be considered in making hiring decisions.

Common types of discriminatory harassment:

Physical harassment, e.g. pushing, striking, using a tool or something else to touch another, is one of the most common types of harassment at work. This can escalate to workplace assault.

Personal harassment/bullying, e.g., isolating/excluding the victim, singling the victim out for alleged infractions, yelling at the victim, especially in front of others, etc.

Psychological harassment, including cyberbullying, such as stalking someone physically or via the internet, social media, email, text messages, etc.

If an Investigation Begins

If an internal complaint process or investigation begins, do not sign a “confidentiality agreement” without legal advice, as it may require you to arbitrate your claims, prohibit you from talking to others and gathering evidence, or otherwise significantly limit your rights. In addition, retaliation is an all-too-common result of complaints of discrimination, despite numerous laws designed to prevent it. The attorneys at Pelton Graham are experienced at protecting their clients from retaliation.