Reverse discrimination can occur in several forms. Some examples of reverse discrimination in the workplace include the following scenarios:
1. Reverse Race and Gender Discrimination:You are the Executive Vice President of Marketing for your company. Your company’s owner decided to implement a new diversity program. This program insists that women and African Americans make up at least 40% of the executive vice president positions within the company. Currently, white men hold all the executive vice president positions.
You begin to get written up for coming into work 2 minutes late. You get written up for taking a longer than average bathroom break. You get written up for almost anything you do that helps your employer create a paper trail to fire you. Within a month you get terminated from your job and replaced by an African American woman.
2. Reverse Gender Discrimination: You applied for a position within a tech start-up company. The company is owned by a woman. Her goal is to employ as many women as possible.
You are a man. You submit your resume because you have the skills the job requires. However, when you call, you are told that you are not qualified for the position.
3. Reverse Race Discrimination:Your company was accused of discriminating against African Americans at work. They decided to implement a diversity program to make sure they cannot get sued for race discrimination again.
You are not African American. You are transferred to another department that requires you to work longer hours for less pay. An African American employee is promoted to your position with higher pay. Your employers claim this is part of the diversity initiative and you must do your part to help make it happen. Your employer committed an act of reverse race discrimination.
4. Reverse Religious Discrimination: Your employer has made a push to hire Muslim and Jewish employees to fill supervisor positions. They are asking for religious affiliations during the interview process (which violates religious discrimination laws). They are only offering a second interview to applicants who are Jewish or Muslim. As a result, they are committing acts of reverse religious discrimination.
5. Reverse Disability Discrimination:You are an able-bodied employee that has worked with your company for over five years. You have always received positive reviews from your employer. However, your boss feels they must hire someone who is in a wheelchair simply to create a better image.
Your employer moves you to another department and replaces you with a new employee in a wheelchair. You are not qualified for the new position and begin receiving poor reviews as a result. This action is the result of reverse disability discrimination.
Derek Smith
3 min. read
Derek Smith