What to Do If You Feel Discriminated Against at Work
Discrimination in the workplace, whether it be race, ethnicity, gender, disability, gender, age, or religion, is no joke and is not as easy to deal with as simply “calling a lawyer.” Here are a few things you need to know before taking the legal route.
Workplace discrimination takes many forms and is more prevalent than you might think. According to a 2002 Rutgers University study of race in the workplace , 28% of African Americans, 22% of Hispanics and Hispanics, and 6% of whites experienced blatant discrimination at work. Another study of Asian Americans found that up to 31% of those surveyed had a similar experience. Many more people reported unfair treatment, and these numbers are probably all too low. A 2013 summary of a Harvard Business Review study found women face similarly dismal workplace experiences, and a 2007 Williams Institute study on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace found that in some cases, up to 68 % of LGBT people surveyed experienced unfair treatment or discrimination. These are just a few studies; While the numbers vary across a wide range of studies on the topic, they all have one thing in common: it’s a real problem.
Sometimes it is a systemic problem that aims to either marginalize you, or at least silence you about what’s going on. In other cases, it may just be one manager acting out his own personal prejudices. In any case, what you should do if you are targeted depends on how bad it is – and on what is really at stake. We sat down with Elizabeth Unrath, an employment law attorney, to talk about it.
First, discuss it with someone you trust.
Your first step is to find someone you can trust to talk to, who will help you get out of your head and get some perspective. Find a deck. Elizabeth explains:
My first piece of advice to an employee who thinks they might be a victim of discrimination is to find a reliable non-work friend, lawyer, spouse, psychiatrist, or someone else who can give you good advice in your life. Tell them the facts and ask their opinion. Don’t talk to anyone you work with. Not a work friend and definitely not a HR specialist. This can be especially useful in situations where a single comment or event has occurred.
Inappropriate behavior is common in the workplace, but not all inappropriate behavior is prosecuted. 90% of employees who contact me about discrimination have no legal effect. Your boss hates you or is a jerk. It is against the law for your boss to discriminate against you because of your race, gender, or other protected category. This is why some good advice from your spouse / psychiatrist / lawyer can be helpful.
Avoiding too much ventilation – a little is good, but too much – only makes you feel worse and distracts you from your goal. Try to get their real opinion on the situation. Then you can make an informed decision about where to go next and how to deal with it.
Decide how you want to approach the problem
If you have reliable advice, you will better understand how to proceed. It’s easy to just say, “You should quit,” and that’s definitely one option, but not everyone has the luxury of just quitting a job or quickly finding another. Alternatively, you may have decided that your job is the one you want to fight for. You may have made your career in this position, or you have a stake in a company or retirement benefits on the horizon. Maybe you don’t want to be pushed, or you want to expose what’s going on so that other people don’t have to go through what you are going through.
You really have three options. Let’s go over them one at a time.
Option one: document everything and talk to a lawyer
If you’ve talked to a trusted friend and he looks at you with open mouth and says that what you are dealing with is almost certainly illegal, it’s time to talk to a lawyer as soon as possible. Elizabeth explained that even a quick call is important here because the statute of limitations on EEO issues can be very short. It’s important to get good advice as soon as possible, so don’t delay.
The first thing a lawyer will advise you to do is document everything: all emails, all your performance reviews, anything you can document should be documented. Look for your company’s anti-discrimination policy (but don’t talk to HR to get one). It should be on the company website, in your employee handbook, or in other HR documents that you have access to. Look at it and see if it responds to the behavior that you observe.
FindLaw invites you to keep a work diary (which we suggested earlier ) or anything else that is used to harass you or, so to speak, “send a message.” They say:
Keep a journal of any incidents of discrimination or harassment. Write down the date, approximate time, location, parties involved, witnesses, and details of any misconduct or performance. Retain any items or photographs posted, left for you, or given to you in the workplace that you believe were discriminatory or harassing.
Note: If an item is posted on a bulletin board, wall, refrigerator, or other common and visible place in your workplace and you find it disturbing, you can confiscate it or make a copy. By placing an object in a “public place”, an attacker has allowed others to see it, and therefore, you have the right to delete or copy it.
Then read about the employment and discrimination laws in your state or region, as well as federal laws. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has a list of various federal laws, rules, and ordinances that address discrimination in employment . State laws may apply to your situation, so check with your state labor department to find out how they can help. This list from the US Department of Labor is a good starting point.
Your next step is to contact an employment lawyer or EEO expert. We’ve already talked about how to find a good lawyer , but sites like WorkplaceFairness.org can help you find an employment lawyer while also learning about your rights. Once you’ve found a lawyer, you need to know how to talk to him and what to bring with you . The bottom line is that you need to provide as much documentation and a timeline of events and conversations as possible that can help them understand if you have a case to take action on, or if it comes down to your word against someone else.
In our discussions , Employment Discrimination Attorney Robert Odell clarifies (and adds additional comments worth reading 🙂
You should also be sure to consult with a real employment discrimination lawyer — most often someone who practices exclusively labor law and represents only employees. A great resource in California is CELA.org , which is a lawyers’ directory of employee rights (alternatively there is NELA.org for a national directory).
If you hire an employment lawyer, he must be a member of CELA, NELA or any professional association of employment lawyers. Membership in these groups costs a lot of money, but it is always up to date with the latest developments in labor law (which is usually very, very difficult). If a lawyer advertises labor laws but is not a member of an organization such as CELA or NELA, this should raise some concerns.
You can also contact EEOC directly. The agency has field offices throughout the country , so you can make an appointment to speak with someone in person. They (or your lawyer) may advise you to file a claim with the EEOC before they can proceed with your case, so do your research. You can even use the EEOC assessment tool to see if something is right for what you are dealing with. Your results are anonymous, but you will need to report this if you want to file charges.
The worst thing that can happen is that a lawyer or someone who constantly sees these cases will sympathize with you, but say that what you are dealing with is not illegal – or a case that they can take up. Either way, get an expert opinion.
Option two: handle it personally
On the other hand, some people are just idiots or thoughtless. Some people may be jerks to you and others may be jerks to you because of your race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. But being a jerk is not forbidden. If you don’t want to leave, it’s time to talk directly to the culprit.
This conversation should not be confrontational. Sometimes it’s as easy as telling your boss that what he said is offensive to you, and you would rather he didn’t say it again. Be honest and assertive and avoid value judgments. After all, you are not trying to change anyone’s minds or prejudices, and it is not your job to educate them. You just want them to treat you with respect and work in a non-toxic environment .
Don’t go to HR (at least without talking to a lawyer first)
All of our experts and specialists unanimously agreed that you should not talk to staff. There is a common misconception that you should do this because “why didn’t you speak to HR?” Will inevitably arise. Most employment lawyers are well aware that dealing with HR often leads to reprisals for many marginalized people.
Human resources exist to protect the company, not to protect you . Elizabeth explains:
Plus, you shouldn’t talk to HR anyway. Always remember that you and HR have the same employer. HR’s job is to protect the company. Even if they support you, they usually don’t make decisions about who should be fired / prosecuted.
What if there is no specific incident, but rather you just don’t think you will get a promotion or promotion because your company is racist / sexist / etc? This is a much more common situation. Many employers today are smart enough to know that they shouldn’t say certain things out loud. Yes, you can talk to a lawyer, but now it’s about the evidence. Some companies have transparency in their salaries and hiring / promotions, but most do not and most consider this information private. I have had clients who have stolen budget and payroll documents from HR departments. I do not recommend people to do this, otherwise you will be accused of theft.
There are laws around getting paperwork related to pay parity, and you can talk to other employees, but I do not necessarily recommend that employees try to do this while they are still working. Talk to an employment lawyer about your rights.
All of this does not mean that HR is evil, it is just that they are responsible to the company , not to you. In researching this article, I came across too many stories of HR involvement that resulted in the marginalized person being unhappy and regretting even bringing the issue up due to the consequences.
There is one exception: if your company’s anti-discrimination policy is clear, you don’t want to leave, and you want to deal with the problem from the inside (and you’re willing to deal with what could happen if something went wrong) then it might be worth getting involved. HR conversation. However, the chances are that, even at best, they will try to resolve the problem, transfer employees or do something to make the problem go away, instead of actually engaging in the harassment or discrimination in question.
Option three: quit and leave without regret
For most people, the quickest and easiest option is to simply leave and find work elsewhere. If the abuser is your boss or someone in power, even trying to talk to them can be dangerous. If the problem is systemic in the company, it is even more dangerous and can be dangerous even with the involvement of a lawyer. Document everything and plan your escape . Do not be idle and do not risk revenge. In many cases, it is better to leave on your own terms than trying to fight in order to stay where you and your skills are not appreciated, or worse, where your life will be miserable if you dare to stand up and fight.
This is easier said than done, of course. When you have a family, student loans, or just bills to pay, quitting your job because some moron thinks racist jokes are funny, or when your boss doesn’t stop calling you names, it’s not easy. In fact, we’d say that even if you’re just planning to leave, get some perspective, document everything, and still talk to a lawyer or employment specialist.
The worst thing that can happen is that everyone agrees that what you’re going through is shit. Then, if a lawyer or the authorities offer to help, you can make a decision based on what you can do instead of working from where you are. Be careful and call with a long-term perspective, not just today. Whether you decide to take the banner and fight or retreat to greener pastures, you will know that you made the right decision for yourself, with all your cards on the table, from a place of power.