Discrimination in the workplace does not always occur in the same way. While discrimination can come in more blatant forms: i.e. an employer chooses a less-qualified coworker for a promotion over a more-qualified minority worker, discrimination can also occur in more subtle and latent ways. One such way in which discrimination can occur is if an employer makes earning or advancement opportunities less accessible to minority and/or female employees. For example, if an employee is in sales, do they have the same access to prime leads, well-established accounts, or more affluent territories for prospecting? If the employee is a store manager that is evaluated on the store’s relative financial performance, do they likewise have equal opportunity for assignment at the higher performing store locations?
These acts of discrimination are not always so obvious. Luckily, federal law protects workers from discrimination, both in terms of blatant discrimination and latent discrimination. Particularly, federal law protects workers from discrimination on the basis of race, sex (i.e. gender identity, pregnancy, and sexual orientation), national origin, religion, age, disability and genetic information (i.e. family medical history).
If you have experienced either blatant or latent discrimination in your workplace, please give us a call at the Shavitz Law Group, (800) 616-4000 or email us at [email protected]