Employers are supposed to treat all of their employees in the same way, giving everyone the opportunity to get hired, advance, and qualify for new opportunities. When an employer discriminates against workers based on a quality that they cannot control, like their race, they are violating state and federal laws and need to be held accountable. Here’s what you need to know about building a valid case and when it’s time to bring in a Los Angeles race discrimination lawyer.
How Can Race Discrimination Manifest in the Workplace?
Race discrimination can show up in a few ways. There are off-hand comments or bad jokes from other employees, but those generally do not call for a race discrimination case on their own. You want evidence that race has factored into:
- Harassment
- Excess punishments for mistake
- Reduced rewards for good performance
- Hiring and firing
- The promotions process
Everyone should have the same opportunities in the workplace. Someone’s race should not affect how they are treated by an employer.
What Kind of Evidence Can Help Me Strengthen Accusations of Race Discrimination?
You obviously want evidence of race discrimination, but direct evidence like recordings or emails are not the only things that can help you make your case. You can also look at company policies and see how discrimination could manifest in less obvious ways. Even circumstantial evidence, like an oddly timed firing, or statistical evidence, like a deep dive into how employees of color are promoted, or not promoted, from within can help you. All in all, if you want to make a strong complaint about race discrimination you should not overlook any of the following:
- Personnel records
- Copies of correspondence, like emails
- Recordings
- Witness testimony (including yours)
- Copies of employment policies
- Records of oddly timed or particularly harsh demotions, firings, or punishments
- Statistics about how many people of a certain race make it through the hiring process
Where Can You Report Race Discrimination?
There are two ways to report race discrimination in California, but your first move should be making a report to your company’s human resources department. This can help you make a paper trail and gives you evidence that a company is lying if they later say that they were unaware of a problem.
If this report goes nowhere or, even worse, you are retaliated against for making the report, then you need to go to the state or federal government. You can make a report to the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, or DFEH. You can also make a report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency commonly known as the EEOC.
Now is the time to submit all of your evidence and make the most convincing report possible. An employment lawyer can help you with this process, and that could make it more likely that you end up with a compelling report that forces one of these agencies to investigate your employer.
Contact an Employment Lawyer Today
If you suspect that race discrimination has become a problem at your place of work, our attorneys will help you fight back. Contact RD Law Group, then get ready to build a case and hold your employer accountable.
