Racial discrimination
Racial discrimination occurs when an employee suffers from harassment, discrimination, demotion, failure to promote, wrongful termination or other unfavorable treatment at the workplace, because of the employee’s race. Under California law, Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), it is illegal for an employer to discriminate based on race if the employer has five or more employees. The harassment could be from a supervisor or a co-worker. If the harassment is from a supervisor, then the employer remains strictly liable, meaning that the employer is at fault no matter what. However, if the racial harassment is from
another employee or a co-worker, then the employer can be liable for this abusive behavior only if the employee:
1) notified the employer regarding the discrimination; and;
2) the employer does not take enough action to stop the harassment.
The racial harassment could be:
1) failure to hire,
2) racial language and verbiage used towards employees;
3) failure to promote because of the employee’s racial background;
4) demoting an employee based on the employee’s race or national origin; and
5) unequal pay because of an employee’s race.
In order to prove a case of discrimination based on race/ethnicity the employee
must show:
1) that the employee is from a racial minority;
2) the employer had notice of the ongoing harassment, and;
3) the employer failed to prevent or stop the harassment.
Racial harassment could create a hostile work environment as well.
The following types of evidence can be used in a racial discrimination case:
1) Direct evidence - evidence such as emails, writings or statement made by
the employer geared toward an employee’s race.
2) Circumstantial evidence includes testimony or other types of evidence
(list examples of Circumstantial Evidence here)
3) Lastly, pattern and practice can be used to prove that the employer has
been engaged in racial discrimination toward a category of the employees
in the past and continues the same discrimination.
Racial discrimination can lead to wrongful termination when the main reason for termination of an employee is the employees’ race or ethnicity, or the termination is in a retaliation to a complaint made by the employee on the basis of race,
Ex. A group of African-American employees work at a construction site. There is graffiti in the bathroom, depicting racial comments and slurs toward minorities
and African-Americans. Employees complain to management and the construction site owners. However, no action is taken. The African-American employees feel stressed out and humiliated since the graffiti is directed towards them. In this scenario, the Employer remains liable for the graffiti and the racial discrimination since they did not take enough measures to stop the harassment, remove the graffiti, or at least ensure that the employees were not subjected to daily racial harassment.
In a racial discrimination lawsuit, an employee can recover damages such as emotional distress, punitive damages, and if there is retaliation and/or wrongful termination, then back-owed wages along with future wages. If you feel you’re being harassed because of your racial background or ethnicity, please contact our team of Los Angeles Attorneys at Employment Rights Lawyers.
