Discrimination FAQ

If you face discrimination at work, the first thing you will want to do is notify your employer. Be clear that the acts of discrimination you have experienced are unacceptable. You can do so by filing a written report with your supervisor, human resources or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Additionally, you should keep a personal log detailing the behavior and acts committed against you. Any violation of your company’s policy, federal or state laws is a violation of your rights. You will want to consult our board-certified specialized labor and employment law attorney upon discovery of those violations.

You can prove discrimination by presenting your complaint letter along with any follow up or lack thereof and your personal log of details to an attorney. With experienced counsel, you will want to determine motive and the basis of the discrimination.

The protected classes under federal law are:

– Race or color
– National origin or ancestry
– Genetic information
– Citizenship
– Religion or creed
– Sex
– Age
– Physical or mental disability
– Veteran status

Employers cannot harass or discriminate religious employees by refusing to hire them, firing them, paying them less, promoting them less frequently, limiting their benefits, laying them off or treating them differently because of their religious beliefs.

Employers must respect their employee’s religious practices. If a company acknowledges Christmas or Ash Wednesday, it must also acknowledge Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and other religious holidays practiced by its employees.

A few examples of the reasonable accommodations an employer must make are:

– Changes to existing facilities, such as the modification of a computer screen or
telecommunications system for the hearing impaired
– Providing additional sick days for medical treatment or transferring you to a location that is closer to your medical treatment facility
– Modifying training materials or hiring a temporary specialist to aid you in your training

You should seek compensation to ensure that you are in the financial place that you would have been if it wasn’t for your employer’s wrongful actions. We have decades of experience successfully advocating for our clients in a broad range of discrimination cases.