Employee Discrimination and Harassment
Despite progress in civil rights, employment discrimination and sexual harassment still occur too frequently in today’s society. Mashney Law Offices represents clients who have been discriminated against and/or harassed. If you have been discriminated or harassed, you are entitled to damages under certain circumstances. Call us for a FREE CONSULTATION.
Discrimination and harassment are different legal concepts. Discrimination is the denial of employment, termination and/or alteration of the terms and conditions of employment (like wages, hours, bonuses, job assignments) based on a protected classification such as race, age, sex, national origin, religious affiliation, marital status, disability, pregnancy, or sexual orientation. This law is embodied in
Harassment can take many forms. Harassment is unwanted conduct of an unlawful nature. The law allows someone who is harassed to sue the harasser as well as the company/employer. When a supervisor, manager or employer demands sex in return for a raise, continued employment, or promotion this is called quid pro quo sexual harassment. Other forms of harassment include, but are not limited to, unwanted touching, jokes, exposure to images, statements, and/or other behavior directed at an employee because of their sex, race, disability, age, gender orientation, or some other protected status.
If the conduct escalates to a level where it is considered severe and pervasive (meaning it is either so severe or so common) that it affects the ability of someone to do their job, this is called a hostile environment. Cases of this type often involve joking, pin up photographs of naked men or women, internet pornography, racial slurs, etc.
Companies are only liable for harassment that they know or should have known about. Under California Law an employer has an affirmative obligation to take all steps necessary to prevent harassment from occurring. Usually, this takes the form of an anti discrimination and harassment policy and/or training. These are often contained in a company handbook or orientation packet. If an employer does not have a policy or program designed to prevent harassment, they may be held liable for failing to take steps to prevent harassment from occurring.
Companies function through employees, supervisors and managers. If an employee, not a supervisor, engages in harassment, the company must have actual knowledge of the harassment before it can be held liable for damages. Therefore, before liability can attach in a co-worker, co-worker situation, the conduct must be so open and obvious that the company should have known, or the employee needs to have reported the conduct to a supervisor, and it happened again, before the company can be held liable for damages. The reason for this rule is that the law wants to provide a business protection from conduct that it does not know of. It wants to provide a chance for the company to remedy the conduct. If the conduct is known to the companies because it is so open and obvious, or because of a complaint, the company must take prompt and sufficient remedial measures to try and stop further harassment from occurring. If nothing is done by the company, or too little is done, and the conduct happens again, the company is liable for the co-worker’s conduct.
If the harassing conduct is engaged in by a supervisor, foreperson, manager, owner, officer or director of the company the company is automatically liable for any unlawful harassment. That is because the company’s eyes and ears are its supervisors and managers. If they engage in unlawful conduct, it is presumed that the company knows about it.
No matter who is harassing or discriminating against you, a report should be made to Human Resources (HR), your supervisor, or a manager. Your company may have a reporting structure in place for complaints of discrimination and/or harassment. You should follow your company’s reporting requirements wherever possible. If the Harasser if the one that your company’s policy suggests that you report harassment to you should report it to HR or the harasser’s supervisor. ANY REPORTS SHOULD BE IN WRITING and you should keep a copy of your complaint.
If conditions or treatment are so severe, or physically dangerous, that no reasonable person in similar circumstances could consider continuing to work in the environment any further, then you may quit and seek damages for lost wages. This is called a constructive termination. However, case law recognizes that employees can’t merely quit and sue after a simple incident of harassment. Employees are expected to utilize any available reporting mechanism to attempt to resolve their employment issues. If that fails, and the treatment continues, an employee may quit and seek compensation for their lost wages.
If you believe that you are being harassed or discriminated against or denied a legal right, you should complain to your supervisor, Human Resources Department and/or the business owner, in writing immediately. Send an e-mail, letter or interoffice e memorandum and keep a copy for your records. Look in your employee handbook or at the company’s sexual harassment policy (if any) to see who is designated to receive complaints. Follow your company’s procedure for reporting your claims and document your actions in writing. Keep notes of whom you spoke to, when you spoke to them and what was said. Identify any witnesses to the conversations and always memorialize the conversations in a memorandum or letter that you send to the employer. The law protects people from being retaliated against for exercising their lawful rights in the workplace.
YOU HAVE A LIMITED TIME IN WHICH TO BRING A CLAIM OF DISCRIMINATION OR HARASSMENT. IN MOST SITUATIONS YOU HAVE ONLY ONE YEAR TO FILE A CLAIM WITH THE PROPER AUTHORITIES. YOU MUST FILE A CLAIM BEFORE YOU CAN FILE SUIT.
Mashney Law Offices is ready to help you. Our experienced attorneys vigorously pursue discrimination cases. Please call us at 800-555-6655 or submit an online case evaluation. This is a FREE CONSULTATION. If we take your case, you will not have to pay money upfront. We get paid after and only if you get paid. Please call now since the passage of time may damage your rights to receive compensation.
