Discrimination as the Root of Various Misunderstandings

Discrimination is one of the root causes of various misunderstandings. Basically, discrimination is legally defined as the prejudicial treatment of a person because he or she is a part of a group or a society. History tells us that discrimination went as far as killing other people just to prove the superiority of a certain group over the more inferior, “weak” group. Of course, all of that doesn’t happen too much today. Despite discrimination still rampant in today’s society, especially in employment, its modernization has brought a broader perspective on such matters.

These changes led to the existence of certain laws whose goal is to protect the emotional, physical and psychological well-being of the employee. In the United States, one such law is called the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It states that discrimination based on religion, race, color, sex and national origin is strictly prohibited.

Among the forms of discrimination, prejudice based on sex is the most prevalent. It is known as the negative treatment of a person, specifically an employee or applicant, because of his or her gender. It is usually perceived the sex discrimination happens only to women; however, this is not purely true. The trend has changed and at the present, many men have also been subjected to maltreatment by their co-workers or employers.

An even more complex issue in workplace discrimination is the inhumane treatment of those who belong in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sector (LGBT). Employees associated with this group also experience humiliation due to discrimination. According to the findings of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), discrimination often takes place in all aspects of employment, including:

·         Layoffs;

·         Hiring;

·         Firing;

·         Pay;

·         Job Assignments;

·         Promotions;

·         Training; and

·         Fringe benefits.

Any employee who has experienced this type of discriminatory act should ask for legal assistance. This can be done by hiring the services of a Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyer. Such professional has the capability to prosecute the liable party and recover compensation for the client in the form of monetary payments.

The Different Facets of Employment Discrimination

Employment discrimination is one of the most prevalent problems across the country. It is ultimately defined as the abuse against the primary rights of workers. Despite the many federal agencies that enforce employment and labor laws that help protect probably the most important sector in society, such issues continue to pile up every single day.

One of the federal agencies that enforce these laws is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to the agency, the State of California is regarded as having one of the states with the most number of discrimination cases filed.

One of the factors for this is due to the vast population of the state. Moreover, the state is known as a melting pot of various cultures, in which a lot of races migrate there and settle for good to achieve better employment opportunities.

However, things swiftly take a drastic turn when cultures clash. Many employers, applicants, and employees are huddled with misunderstandings because of this. Furthermore, the employment agencies of the government also face a great amount of difficulty in handling such  complaints since they are outnumbered by the vast number of complaints every year.

As it is, prohibiting discrimination in the workplace is considered a primary emphasis of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. As such, they are provided with corresponding penalties. The precepts of discrimination dictate that the job position of the employee is disregarded in court litigations when the case is tried. Action is the only prime basis of the complaint.

Through the years, discrimination has evolved into numerous forms. It has entered the different facets of life and wrecked havoc to employees who are not well-versed with their employment rights. Common forms of discrimination in the workplace include the following:

• Racial discrimination
• Sex discrimination (including discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and childbirth)
• Disability discrimination
• Age discrimination
• Religious discrimination

Meanwhile, employees who were subjected to discrimination must immediately file for a formal complaint with the HR department of their respective companies. If the complaint is not taken seriously, they may seek the help of a Los Angeles labor lawyer. This professional will guide the client through the case, in which the client may have a chance to obtain monetary and non-monetary relief.

The Affinity to Judge Others through Their Appearance

 People have the affinity to judge others based on outer appearance. Sadly, this is an infallible truth and the same premise happens within the realm of the employment and labor sector. Employers are prone to judging an applicant or employee through his or her looks.

Those who have visible physical or mental difficulties may have suffered discrimination to no end by their abusive employers. Unfortunately, most employers don’t realize this glaring statistic: about 21.1 percent of the whole labor sector consists of disabled workers.

Discrimination is a seemingly never-ending issue in the United States. Despite this, anti-discimination laws are currently in place to help protect the labor sector.

One example of such laws is the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). This law states that it is against the law to discriminate a person that has a qualified disability. This law was initially enacted by the Congress and was later signed on July 26, 1990.

The ADA is reinforced by various federal agencies that enforce employment and labor laws. One of these is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). It ensures that the employer and the employee both have balanced rights so that no abuse or any unlawful treatment happens in the workplace.

Meanwhile, here are some of the provisions of the ADA with regards to who is a qualified employee:

• An employee or applicant is considered disabled if he or she has a medical condition that substantially limits major life activities. Examples include seeing, talking, walking, learning and hearing.
• An employee or applicant is disabled given a detailed  history of his or her disability.
• An employee or applicant is disabled if he or she is regarded as having such impairment. 

Incidentally, a California employee or worker subjected to discrimination on the basis of disability should seek the aid of a Los Angeles employment lawyer. The expertise of the professional in handling such a case would be of great help for the aggrieved worker in getting a chance to obtain justice and secure monetary relief. The lawyer would also consider utilizing alternative dispute resolutions such as mediation and arbitration.

About Employment Discrimination Based on Religious Beliefs

If you are a job applicant or an employee whose life centers on religious beliefs, you must know that you have the right for fair treatment in the workplace. As such, your employer, potential employer, or any of your co-workers must be understanding and respectful of your religious beliefs.

However, if your potential employer doesn’t hire you, your co-worker harassed you, or your employer dismissed you because of religion, then you are automatically a victim of religious discrimination. Now what is this kind of workplace discrimination?

Basically, religious discrimination is an unfair treatment of an individual because of his or her religion. It is also treating a person in a different way because of his or her religious practices, as well as his or her request to accommodate for his or her beliefs and practices. Religious discrimination can also refer to a wrongful treatment during employment because of his or her lack of religious belief or practice.

This kind of workplace discrimination is also associated with the other forms of employment bias, especially those based on a person’s national origin, citizenship/immigration status, or race. Meanwhile, here are some examples that constitute religious discrimination:

• Refusing an applicant a job because he or she is an Adventist or an Orthodox Jew who recognizes the holy Sabbath Day (Saturday).
• Giving an employee a grave sanction (e.g. suspension, termination) just because he or she missed a day of work for observing a religious holiday.
• Asking an employee to attend church regularly in exchange for a job promotion or a higher salary raise.
• Harassing an employee through comments that ridicule his or her strict and strong observance to his or her religious beliefs.
• Mocking an employee’s religious dress while at work, particularly if he or she is wearing a turban or a head scarf.

If you are an employee who has experienced religious discrimination in the workplace, it would benefit you if you retain the services of a Los Angeles discrimination attorney. If your employer in question is proven guilty of discrimination, you may recover remedies including back pay, rehiring, front pay and compensatory and punitive damages.

Even Job Applicants May Be Subjected to Employment Discrimination

When thinking about discrimination in the workplace, it usually involves an employer or a co-worker and an employee. However, employment bias may also involve an employer and an applicant. Discrimination in hiring is any practice that entails bias towards the selection and recruitment of potential employees.

As it is, people who are seeking a position within a company or workplace are protected from discrimination. Federal and state laws prohibit such bias in hiring on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age.

Three important employment laws protect potential employees from discrimination in hiring. These are the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Each has specific provisions with regards to protecting job applicants from unlawful treatment.

In particular, employers with 15 or more employees are prohibited to exercise discriminatory acts, as stated in Title VII and the ADA. Employers with 20 or more employees must also do so in accordance to the provisions of the ADEA.

Meanwhile, here are some of the prohibitions that employers must consider to avoid getting slapped with employment discrimination charges based on biased practices in hiring potential employees:

• Prohibitions against race discrimination. When posting a job opening, employers must present it as job-related and does not exclude members of a certain race. They must also do so when they are considering applicants for a particular position.
• Prohibitions against age discrimination. Generally, employers must not include age limits in job advertisements or posting, unless age is factor for a job requiring a bona fide occupational qualification. ADEA protects job applicants aged 40 and above from discrimination in hiring.
• Prohibitions against disability discrimination. During the hiring process, employers in the interview must not bring up job applicants’ existence, nature or severity of their respective disabilities. They may only verify their abilities of doing the desired job. Likewise, they may also ask the disabled applicants if they need reasonable accommodations for them to perform their jobs.

Accordingly, a job applicant may consult with a Los Angeles employment lawyer to know more about the laws that govern them and how they can file charges against an employer who discriminated against them during the hiring process.

About the Types of Relief a Victim of Employment Discrimination May Receive

An employee or an applicant can be entitled to certain types of employment discrimination relief or damages if their erring employer is found guilty of a discriminatory act in the workplace. The relief or damages that may be awarded to the employee or applicant usually comprises back pay for lost wages and payment for emotional distress and mental anguish caused by discrimination.
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Aside from monetary compensation, the employee or applicant may also be entitled employment remedies, including reinstatement to the disputed job or promotion. For him or her to receive such relief, he or she must adhere to the protocol regarding employment discrimination.

To begin with, an applicant or an employee subjected to employment discrimination must file a charge against the employer with the help of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). He or she must do so within 180 days of the incident. If state or local anti-discrimination laws apply, then he or she is given 300 days.

The EEOC, a federal agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace, will entitle the employee or applicant relief or damages once a settlement is reached with the employer in question. However, if the EEOC does not pursue a charge, a Notice of Right to Sue is issued. At this point, thje employee or applicant may retain the services of a Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyer to privately sue the erring employer.

Meanwhile, here are the common types of relief an employee or applicant may receive when the case has been settled:

• Hiring, promotion, or job reinstatement.
• Back pay. It includes compensation for the wages and benefits that he or she would have earned from the date of the discrimination to the date of the settlement.
• Front pay. This is compensation that may be awarded to the applicant or employee had there have been no acts of discrimination that happened.
• Compensatory damages. This covers the applicant or employee’s actual monetary losses, as well as reparation for the experience of mental anguish or pain and suffering.
• Exemplary (punitive) damages. This is given to the applicant or employee as a way of punishing the employer’s malicious or reckless act of discrimination.

Laws Reinforcing Prohibitions on Employment Discrimination

Discrimination has been one of the biggest problems that the labor sector faced in the past years and continues even today. Most of the time, this is caused by the immaturity and the lack of understanding of some employers regarding the rights of workers. Unknown to them, workplace discrimination is strictly prohibited under the law.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a government agency that handles labor disputes, discrimination is defined as treating a person differently or less favorably due to certain reasons. Most of the time, this is caused by disparity on race, color, religion, sex (pregnancy issues), national origin, disability, age (40 and above employees), or genetic information.
The EEOC promises protection to employees if their complaints involve any, or a combination of, the following illegal acts:

• Unfair treatment
• Harassment
• Denial of reasonable change of workplace
• Retaliation

Accordingly, there is a great probability that the complaint would occur in populous areas where there are a lot of residing industries. One of these places includes the city of Los Angeles in California. Based from the published press releases at the EEOC, there were numerous complaints filed in the area.

This could also be one simple reason why the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) was created. FEHA works hand in hand with the EEOC to implement laws that protect and reinforce a justice-driven relationship between employees and employers. Additionally, FEHA reinforces the following employment rules:

• Acts of harassment should be prohibited from being committed against workers, specifically on applicants as well as independent contractors. Employers are likewise required to promptly act if they see that harassment is occurring at their companies.
• Employers should not restrict the use of other languages at work.
• It requires that employees should be provided with information on how they can protect themselves against harassment and discrimination.
• It requires that companies with 50 or more employees should provide its supervisors some prevention training against harassment.
• It requires that employers provide reasonable accommodation to its employees.

Accordingly, an employee who feels that his or her rights are violated may hire a Los Angeles labor lawyer. This lawyer would assist the worker in filing a formal complaint at the EEOC.

Employee Abuse Worsened through Wrongful Termination

Wrongful termination is one of the most disturbing problems that the country is facing nowadays. It afflicts the labor sector and leads employees into anxiety and humiliation. Employers, through illegal dismissal, abuse employees.

In addition, a case falls under whistle-blowing violations once a worker who collaborates or informs the government regarding the illegal activities within a company was terminated for doing so.
One of the states with a lot of these cases based on the reports of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the State of California. According to some of the reports of employees who were abused, their situation was worsened by the “at-will” employment policy in the area. The at-will policy states that an employer may terminate a worker readily without having liabilities under the law under valid reasons. However, some companies would use this rule to justify the termination of an employee who has opposed their illegal acts.

On the other hand, it was fortunate that the lawmakers of the country have foreseen that this event may happen. This is the reason why they created relevant laws that would protect workers from abuse.
To facilitate the strict implementation of such laws, government agencies were also made. One such labor agency is the EEOC. It was launched on July 2, 1965 and shortly after, it has gained the confidence of employees for upholding their rights as citizens of the country and as part of the employment sector.

The EEOC has long handled employee complaints and it has subsequently found patterns for wrongful termination cases. These include the following premises:

• The employee expressed his or her discontent on the anomalous acts, which were done within the company.
• The employee has participated in an investigation against the company.
• The employee has filed a complaint against the company prior to the termination.

Employees who had a similar experience should file a complaint at the EEOC office. They would need the help of a California wrongful termination lawyer. Hiring the services of such professional would assure the client that his or her case will be well taken care of and the chances of winning will likely increase.