FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL LAWS PROTECT EMPLOYEES FROM DISCRIMINATION

Employment Discrimination

Federal, state and local laws protect employees from discrimination across a wide variety of characteristics. Federal laws, which apply to most employees in the country, protect workers from several kinds of discrimination.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.

Some states go further and protect employees from discrimination based on veteran status, marital status, domestic violence victim status, and certain elements of criminal or arrest records.

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

If you think you have experienced discrimination at the workplace, you should contact employment attorneys with experience handling discrimination matters. The attorneys at Pelton Graham are experienced in advocating for clients who have experienced discrimination. We are happy to talk with you and answer any questions about discrimination. Consultations are free, and as contingency fee attorneys, we do not get paid unless we recover for you.

Answers to Your Questions About Employment Discrimination

What is discrimination?

Discrimination involves differential treatment or harassment of an employee. Discrimination can occur where an employee actually belongs to a certain group (i.e. race, gender, disability) or where an employee is seen as or suspected of belonging to a certain group. Discrimination can also occur simply because an employee is seen as showing characteristics or stereotypes associated with a group.

Have I experienced discrimination?

Discrimination comes in many forms. It can be different, less favorable treatment at any stage in the employment process, including help-wanted ads, interviews, pre-employment testing, hiring, job assignments, shift assignments, promotions, compensation, benefits, job training, layoffs or termination.

This kind of discrimination may be very direct, such as when an employee is not hired or is fired because of race, gender, disability, etc. It can also be more subtle, such as an employer’s policy that inherently discriminates against members of a particular group without a real business need. For example, if the employer requires all employees to meet certain height and weight requirements, people of Asian descent (who are statistically lighter and smaller than individuals in other ethnic groups) will be affected by this rule more than people of other ethnic groups. For an employer to legally maintain such a policy, the height and weight requirements must be clearly related to the physical demands of a particular job.

Discrimination may come from supervisors, co-workers or in limited circumstances from other individuals, such as vendors, clients or subcontractors. If your employer is creating or allowing an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment to exist, these practices are also against the law.

Discrimination can also be harassment experienced by an employee because they belong to a group or are seen as belonging to a group. Harassment can include “jokes” about a particular group of people, derogatory comments about an employee’s characteristics (race, gender, disability, etc.) or certain groups of people, hostile comments or actions toward the employee based on his or her characteristics (race, gender, disability, etc.), the display of drawings or pictures that negatively portray people belonging to certain groups, or any other action that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment, or interferes with the employee’s work performance. To be considered discrimination, harassing actions must be “severe and pervasive.” In other words, an isolated incident or “offhand teasing” would probably not be enough for a lawsuit.

Can my employer punish me for complaining about discrimination?

It is illegal for an employer to take any adverse or punitive actions against an employee for complaining about discrimination or other employment law violations. “Adverse actions” include termination, demotion, discipline, reduction of pay, or any other actions that would cause the average person to avoid making such a complaint. Adverse actions may occur outside the context of work and include threats, including threats of deportation or reporting a person to government authorities.

It is important to note that the discrimination does not have to be proven for the complaining employee to be protected against retaliation. In other words, if an employee makes a complaint about racial discrimination and is fired a few days later, the employer may be liable for retaliation even if no court or government agency finds that the underlying racial discrimination actually occurred.

What should I do if I think I’m being harassed or discriminated against?

One important step to take if you believe you may be the victim of harassment or discrimination in the workplace is to keep a log of all harassing or discriminatory incidents and communications. A log can be a simple handwritten page showing the date of the incidents, what occurred, who was present, and any other relevant information. Your recollection will be best shortly after the incident, but there is no requirement that logs be kept within a certain period of time. Logs are especially important if you do not have any written materials or recordings of incidents.

You should save any communications, such as e-mails or memos, or social media posts that are harassing or discriminatory or that refer to such incidents.

In some states you are permitted to make audio recordings of conversations that you are part of. Check your state’s laws about recording in-person and telephone conversations. If you live in a “one party” state, you may have the right to make audio recordings of conversations with individuals harassing you or discriminating against you.

The law limits the time that you can file a complaint about discrimination. In addition, many anti-discrimination laws require a two-step process of filing a complaint with a government agency (such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or a state’s Department of Labor) before you can file a lawsuit in court. Since you have a limited amount of time to file any complaint, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible after an incident of harassment or discrimination.