Employment discrimination means that an employee received unfair treatment or harassment in the workplace due to race, religion, sex, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, disability, or age. Workplace discrimination occurs when an employee gets treated unjustly, compared to his or her peers. Discriminatory action may include biases when hiring, firing, giving promotions, assigning jobs, compensation, and several types of harassment.

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Job Discrimination Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discriminating in hiring, firing or pay based on a persons’ race, religion, sex or national origin. It also prohibits sexual harassment. Treat all employees and applicants equally, without regard to their race, religion, gender or any other characteristics not related to job performance.	Gender-Pay Differences The Equal Pay Act says you can’t pay female employees less than male employees for equal work on jobs that require equal skill, effort, and responsibility. Review pay scales to identify possible equal-pay complaints. Different pay for the same job title is fine as long as you can point to varying levels of responsibility, duties, skill requirements or education requirements.	Age Discrimination The Age Discrimination in Employment Act says you can’t discriminate against applicants or employees older than 40 because of their age. Never take a person’s age or proximity to retirement into account when making decisions on hiring, firing, pay, benefits or promotions.	Disability Discrimination The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits job discrimination against qualified people with disabilities (i.e., those who can perform the job’s essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation). When hiring, stick to questions about the applicant’s ability to perform the job’s essential functions; don’t ask questions that would reveal an applicant’s disability.	Family Leave The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies if you have 50 or more employees. It allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks per year of unpaid, job-protected time off for the birth of a child or to care for themselves or a sick family member with a “serious” health condition. When employees request leave, listen for requests that would meet the FMLA criteria. Employees don’t need to use the words “FMLA leave” to gain protection under the law.
Overtime/Minimum Wage The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the federal minimum wage at $5.15 an hour (many states have higher minimums) and requires time-and-a-half overtime pay for hourly employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek.	Workplace Safety The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) requires employers to run a business free from recognized hazards. Provide a safe work environment for your staff.	Pregnancy Discrimination The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) prohibits job discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions.” Treat pregnant employees the same as other employees on the basis of their ability or inability to work.	Military Leave The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) makes it illegal to discriminate against employees called to military duty. When reservists return from active duty, you must re-employ them to their old jobs or to equal jobs.	Immigration The Immigration Reform and Control Act makes it illegal to hire and employ illegal aliens. You must very identification and workplace eligibility for all hires by completing I-9 Forms.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination by an employer with 20 or more employees against people who are age 40 or older. Although some states do have laws that protect younger workers from age discrimination, it does not protect workers under the age of 40. Discrimination can occur when the employer’s representative who inflicted the discrimination and the applicant for employment or the employee are all over the age of 40. However, it is illegal for an employer or other covered entity to favor an older worker over a younger one, even if both workers are age 40 or older.

The ADEA forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment. It is common to see harassment at the workplace relating to the age of an employee. These may include offensive remarks about a person’s age. Simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents are not considered harassment. However, it is illegal when the offensive remarks about age are so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision such as termination of employment or demotion. The harasser can be a supervisor, a co-worker, or someone who is a customer.

Thus, it is very important for employers to seek preventative legal counseling to be able to take appropriate measures to properly document and address any harassment and/or other issues relating to age discrimination at workplace. All incidents should be thoroughly investigated internally by the employer and well-documented with the steps that the employer has taken to stop such unlawful conduct like disciplining employees and having appropriate policies and procedures or by requiring appropriate training for employees.

In a recent case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, it was held that an employer could not treat a pregnant worker differently than a non-pregnant worker unless the employer had a good non-discriminatory reason. The case centered around an employee who was denied a light-duty assignment because she was advised not to lift more than twenty pounds when her job required her to lift up to seventy pounds. The employer placed her on unpaid leave and thereby she lost her health insurance. The employee then sued based on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which states that, “women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes—as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work.

The employee argued that she was “similar in [her] inability to work” as someone who pulled her back while lifting a package on the job. The employer argued that the term “other persons” in the law was more limited, referring only to workers who were in the employee’s situation – those whose disabling condition occurred off the job. The Supreme Court rejected both arguments and found a compromise position. Employees can make a prima facie case by showing that they belong to the protected class, that they sought accommodation, that the employer did not accommodate them, and that the employer did accommodate others similar in their ability or inability to work. The employer may then seek to justify its refusal to accommodate the plaintiff by relying on “legitimate, nondiscriminatory” reasons for denying accommodation. The employee can then counter by showing that the nondiscriminatory reason is just a cover for discrimination. A jury would then decide which evidence they believe is stronger.

Having sexual harassment policies in place is no guarantee that your clients or their employees are adequately protected. After all, many businesses still make mistakes when it comes to investigating claims of harassment and discrimination. For example, they may fail to maintain confidentiality or to remind parties about policies regarding retaliation. If you own or manage a business, it is important to ensure that your policies, both in writing and in practice, sufficiently protect your employees and reduce the risks of the businesses’ liability.

Sexual harassment generally takes the form of unwanted sexual advances There are situations when employees are sexually harassed by customers or other third parties rather than by other employees. This is often referred to as third party sexual harassment and can lead to employer liability. While sexual harassment laws differ among states, if your company has 15 or more employees, it will also be subject to federal laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) under Title VII. EEOC complaints normally involve a formal investigation and findings and could also lead to a federal lawsuit being filed by an employee or by the EEOC itself.

Upon receiving a complaint of sexual harassment, an employer should promptly investigate and take reasonable actions against an employee found to have committed sexual harassment. Employers can also take actions to address the harm to the victim. If third parties are creating hostile work environments for your company, you should still take prompt action to remedy the situation. In these situations, employers should investigate the complaint as if the offender were an employee and take reasonable steps to protect their employees, even if it may harm business relationships.

Harassment is a form of employment discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. A determination of whether harassment is severe or pervasive enough to be illegal is made on a case-by-case basis by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The employer is automatically liable for harassment by a supervisor that results in a negative employment action such as termination, failure to promote or hire, and loss of wages. If the supervisor’s harassment results in a hostile work environment, the employer can avoid liability only if it can prove that it reasonably tried to prevent and promptly correct the harassing behavior, and the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.

Every business needs legally binding employment agreements. They need contracts for different types of employees including full time, part time, and casual. Contracts are also necessary for any independent contractors. A good employment contract will spell out what exactly you expect the employee to do (the parameters of their job). In addition, the contract will spell out what your employee can expect from you (normally a salary or hourly wage). However, there are other terms that you can include in an employment contract, such as: reasons and grounds for termination, covenants not to compete, non-disclosure agreements, methods for resolving disputes, and anything else deemed important.

A good employment agreement should also define the kind of behavior you expect employees and even contractors to engage in. If employees violate this and engage in behaviors that damage the business then you’ll be within your legal rights to terminate their employment. It’s a safeguard every small business needs. A good employment agreement will also serve to protect your business if any lawsuits arise. If an employee or independent contractor signs a contract then a business owner can limit a lot of responsibility and damage he or she could face during legal proceedings. Contact Spiegel & Utrera to ensure that your business is using employment agreements which protect your business.

Proving that you were a victim of employment discrimination or workplace harassment can be a difficult task. Here are some of the things you might need:

• Communications like texts, e-mails, and letters containing biased or derogatory language.
• Check your employment contract to see if there’s a breach of contract; consider having a lawyer check it for you.
• Compare how other employees got treated and recognize if anyone else was also a victim for the same reasons.
• Check to see if the employer has ever been sued before.

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