Employment Discrimination

All employees are entitled to equal pay based on his/her merit, however, many employers find new and innovative ways to discriminate against their employees. Wage or Compensation discrimination occurs anytime an employee is paid less based on his or her race, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, age or citizenship, that is illegal. Other forms of compensation discrimination include salary, overtime pay, bonuses, stock option, profit sharing, bonus plans, life insurance, vacation pay, holiday pay, or any other benefits of employment.

It is important to be aware of common misconceptions with employment laws. Although many people are aware that they have the right to seek damages for discrimination and harassment, most people are not sure whether or not they have an actionable claim. Because some people rely on misconceptions about employment claims, that thinking could hurt the disposition of your case of employment discrimination.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) protects qualified employees with disabilities but who can do the job. It requires employers to make reasonable accommodations to allow disabled people to perform a job’s essential functions. Federal law does not allow companies with 15 or more employees to discriminate on the basis of a disability or perceived disability. Human rights laws do not allow disability discrimination when you work (or apply to work) at a company that has 4 or more employees.

It is illegal to discriminate against or harass someone due to their “actual or perceived” sexual orientation. In other words, you can not be discriminated against for being gay, even if you do not actually identify as a homosexual. You should not be harassed at work or denied employment benefits because of your LGBT status.

America is one of the most diverse countries in the world. While most people live and work together in peace, there are instances where people do experience unfair treatment and ethnic discrimination. In addition to being unkind, ethnic discrimination in workplaces is a crime.

Unfortunately, members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer LGBT (LGBTQ) community are just as susceptible to sexual harassment in the workplace as anyone else — in some work environments, LGBTQ individuals are at an even higher risk. Many instances of gay and lesbian harassment go unreported, making victims feel like they don’t have a voice. Now is your time to fight back.

Gender discrimination against women in the workplace is a complex area of the law and workers should consult with gender discrimination lawyers. Gender discrimination generally takes four basic forms in the workplace. Disparate Treatment: being treated differently because of gender. Disparate Impact: company policies that adversely affect employees based on gender. Sexual harassment/Hostile Work Environment: when misconduct interferes with individual work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. Sexual harassment/Quid Pro Quo.

Religious discrimination occurs in the workplace when an employer/manager treats an individual or a group of employees differently because of their religious beliefs. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of l964 prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals because of their religion in hiring, firing, and other terms and conditions of employment.

The Act also requires employers to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee or prospective employee, unless doing so would create an undue hardship upon the employer. Flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers are examples of accommodating an employee’s religious beliefs. These protections are extended to treating someone differently because they are married to an individual of a particular religion.

National origin discrimination in employment involves treating individuals, employees and applicants, unfavorably based on their national origin, including individuals being from a particular country or region.

This type of discrimination can include discriminating against individuals based on their ethnicity, accent or their perceived ethnic background, regardless of whether they are actually from that particular ethnic background. Further, the law protects individuals regardless of whether the victim and harasser are of the same national origin.

Pregnancy discrimination involves treating a current or potential employee differently because of her pregnancy, childbirth, or any medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. It is illegal for an employer to discriminate against a woman based on pregnancy. There are state and federal laws that protect women against this form of discrimination in all aspects of employment, including interviewing, hiring, discharge and promoting.

Race discrimination involves treating a current or potential employee differently because he/she is a member of a certain race, color, descent, national or ethnic origin or immigrant status. Workplace racial discrimination may also come in the form of racial harassment by other employees or supervisors. Examples of race discrimination or racial harassment may include: comments due to skin color, hair, complexion, racially offensive comments, jokes, cartoons, pictures or emails. Race/color discrimination also can involve treating someone unfavorably because the person is married to (or associated with) a person of a certain race or color.

Weight discrimination, often referred to as size discrimination, occurs when an employee or potential employee is treated differently because of their weight. Title VII of the Civil Right Act of 1964 has failed to include obesity as a protected class. However, States, the EEOC, and the Courts have picked up the slack and have used “a broad scope of protection” in deciding disability discrimination claims. Often, the Court has taken how an employer perceived an employee’s disability into consideration in deciding whether the employer treated an individual unfairly based on their obesity.