Race Discrimination
What is Race or Color Discrimination?
Many people find themselves treated improperly due to their skin color and other traits related to it, such as facial features and hair texture, a phenomenon that is defined as race discrimination. The law forbids any kind of discriminatory behavior based on race, including race employment discrimination. Specifically, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination of employees based on their race in the following processes:
- Hiring, Recruitment and Promotion: Race employment discrimination is quite common in the hiring, recruitment, and promotion processes. For example, if a company needs information regarding the race of its job candidates, it can pose the question in another document different from job application document, otherwise it might be an indication that race will play a role in the hiring process. Another example might be the language used in job descriptions. Some companies use racial terms, such as “brown bag” sessions, a term that was considered to be a benchmark for providing someone with certain advantages based on his/her skin color, instead of learning sessions.
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- Compensation and Other Employment Terms, Conditions, and Privileges: Under this title, any form of discrimination in employee evaluation, training opportunities, work tasks, benefits, and so on, is forbidden. A typical example can be when two or more employees have similar roles and responsibilities in a job, however one of them enjoys higher financial benefits and more career advancement trainings due to his/her skin color.
- Harassment: Workplace harassment can take various forms, such as verbal offensive comments, which lead to toxic working environments. Such behavior is forbidden by Title VII. For example, many employees use racial remarks and practical jokes directed at other team workers who belong to another race. This behavior makes the targeted workers feel degraded. In some cases, workers who are mocked due to their skin color decide to even leave their jobs.
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- Retaliation: In many cases, employees address their concerns to the manager after experiencing job discrimination. Then, that employee might face negative treatment by the organization management that might result even in demotion. Such similar cases are defined as retaliation and are strongly banned by this title. Retaliation is present in various institutions, including educational ones. For instance, a school teacher in South Carolina filed a lawsuit claiming that she was retaliated by the school after she had addressed certain issues related to some of the students’ graduation process.
- Segregation and Classification of Employees: Such discrimination involves situations in which certain employees are assigned to work in spaces separate from other team members. For example, an employee that belongs to a minority group that is characterized by different traits including race, is assigned to work in an area that is dominated by this minority. In addition, some companies have also grouped work tasks in that way that some of them are usually performed by certain employees who are part of a minority.
- Pre-Employment Inquiries and Requirements: In many cases, companies request information related to the race of a job applicant in the job application documents. This is an indication that race will be used during the process of application evaluation from hiring committees and as such is strictly forbidden by Title VII.
Statistics on Race Discrimination in the Workplace
Even though, laws and policies forbid race discrimination in workplaces, statistics show that employee discrimination based on skin color continues to be a serious concern. According to Annual Report FY 2018/19 by Division of Human Rights of New York State, a total of 6229 cases were filed last year, out of which 5330 addressed employment discrimination concerns. Among employment discrimination cases, discrimination cases based on race are the dominant one with 2430 cases in total. Please see the table below for more information.
| Topic | Cases in NYC | % of total |
| Race/Colour | 2 430 | 22.9% |
| Disability | 2 279 | 21.5% |
| Retaliation | 2 187 | 20.6% |
| Sex | 1 646 | 15.5% |
| Age | 1 602 | 15.1% |
| Religion/Creed | 465 | 4.4% |
What can discriminated employees do to assert their rights?
Considering the statistics, it is quite common for employees to experience discrimination due to their race. As such, if an employee believes that he/she has experienced workplace discrimination because of the skin color, he/she should feel safe to address the case to the employer or human resources department. It is the company’s responsibility to properly treat the case. However, if no action is taken by the organization, the employee should address the case to an employment discrimination lawyer, who will fight in court for any damage that the employee who experienced employment race discrimination incurred, including lost wages. There is a time limit of 180 days to address race employment discrimination to the court or 300 days if the case happened in one of FEPA states.
Employment Discrimination Lawyers at L & D Law P.C.
L & D Law P.C. has an outstanding reputation in handling cases related to race employment discrimination. L & D Law P.C. attorneys possess the required knowledge and skills to litigate your case. They are determined to use their expertise to fight on your behalf with the aim of ensuring that your claims are preserved and justice is served. Moreover, the team of L & D Law P.C. is trained to treat each case intimately and empathically with the aim of putting the wellbeing of the client first. As such, as a starting point, the firm offers free of charge consultations through which clients are provided with legal advice regarding their case.
Source: Pexels
If you believe you have been treated unfavorably in workplace because of the skin color, do not delay, let one of L & D Law P.C. attorneys aggressively pursue your claims. Please fill out the form below or reach out to schedule a free consultation by calling at 212-374-9786 or emailing at info@discriminationlawyertoday.com.
https://www.eeoc.gov/racecolor-discrimination
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/facts-about-racecolor-discrimination
https://www.spigglelaw.com/employment-blog/5-examples-of-retaliation-in-workplace/
https://dhr.ny.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/DHR-Annual-Report-2018-19.pdf
