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Discrimination
Claims
The laws prohibit workplace discrimination based on an employee's
race, color, gender, religion, disability or age. Job discrimination
claims filed against employers continue to rise with over
75,000 claims filed last year. Most of the claims involve
allegations of racial discrimination and sexual discrimination.
Sexual
Harassment
Sexual harassment is prohibited by law. It is unlawful for
an employer to discriminate against any individual concerning
the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on
race, color, religion sex or national origin. The law also
prohibits discrimination based on sex and sexual harassment,
and a violation occurs where harassment is severe and alters
or changes the condition of a person's employment into an
abusive working environment.
A grant or denial of benefits such as a promotion or receiving
a favorable performance review, increase in pay, or job retention,
may be considered aspects of sexual harassment. An example
is supervisor's request for sexual favors related to job benefits.
Sometimes a case may involves a form of sexual advance or
proposition by a supervisor with some indication that if the
employee refuses the sexual advance or proposition, they will
be terminated or demoted or lose job benefits.
A hostile environment is where sexual conduct, and verbal
or physical conduct, unreasonably interferes with a person's
job performance or creates a hostile or offensive work environment.
A claim of a hostile work environment do not always include
loss of a job or benefits, and may only require the workplace
environment reasonably seemed hostile or abusive. Examples
of environments viewed as hostile may be sexual advances and
propositions, unwanted touching, verbal harassment, offensive
materials (pictures, calendars, cards, cartoons), suggestive
items (letters, cards, photos, invitations), offensive jokes
(including insults, slurs or comments), offensive gestures,
and asking about sex.
Racial
Discrimination
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevents discrimination based
on race, sex, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion,
or national origin. To claim racial discrimination a person
must show they suffered a harmful or adverse employment consequence.
Wrongful
Termination
An employer's ability to terminate employees is restricted.
All employment contracts have an implied obligation of good
faith and fair dealing. If an employer violates such obligation,
they may be in breach of the employment contact and liable
for damages. An employee may have the ability to maintain
an action against his employer for termination and where disciplinary
action was taken against the employee in retaliation to the
employee's "whistle blowing" or other reporting activities.
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