Employment discrimination is illegal in the United States and the laws are in place in the state of California to prevent this type of discrimination. Even though laws are in place, it’s still common for employees to suffer workplace discrimination by either co-workers or employers. You need to know the signs of employment discrimination in order to stop it immediately in California.
A subtle type of workplace discrimination occurs when an employer gives certain employees preferential treatment. An example would be rewarding an employee of one background, or failing to discipline him or her, when they routinely arrive late to work or miss meetings. On the other side of it, an employee of another background could be disciplined for such an offense. This can also be categorized as racial discrimination.
One of the most common types of workplace discrimination is that of promotions for workers. All promotions made within a company should be done so using the merits of the employees and nothing else. The promotions should never be reserved for a set group of employees. It is discriminatory when a company denies a promotion based on age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion or disability.
Unfair allocation of tasks is another common sign of employment discrimination. This typically occurs when employers reserve the best projects for one group of employees over another. Or, the employer gives the most menial tasks on a regular basis to a specific set of employees within the office.
Harassment is illegal in the workplace, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces this issue. Harassment from co-workers and employers is illegal in the workplace. It can take almost any form and is typically done based on a person’s gender, race, age, disability, religion or ethnic background and involves remarks or other gestures.
An experienced employment discrimination attorney in Sherman Oaks can answer all of your questions about discrimination in the workplace and how to handle such situations with legal repercussions.
Source: Chron, “How to Recognize Discrimination in the Workplace,” Alejandro Russell, accessed June 15, 2017