— Discrimination Category Archives — Page 9 of 10 — Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog Published by Dallas, Texas Employment Lawyers

In Texas, it is absolutely illegal to make employment decisions based on race

October 1, 2017 | Law Office of Rob Wiley, P.C.

Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit race discrimination in most Texas workplaces. Race discrimination occurs any time that an employer makes an adverse employment decision based on race, and it is absolutely illegal.

Assuming it has a minimum of 15 employees, your private employer cannot make adverse employment decisions when hiring, firing, promoting, paying, training, or providing other terms and conditions of employment. Employers cannot make these decisions based on their biases about the qualities or performance of people who belong to specific races. They also can’t make those decisions based on a job applicant or employee’s association or marriage to someone of a certain race, membership in ethnic or race-based organizations, or attendance in schools that are identified with certain races.

For example, if your manager decides not to promote you to a supervisory position because she has stereotypes about people of your race not being good leaders, this would be race discrimination. Similarly, if you are not hired for a job because a company’s leadership believes that people of your race aren’t creative enough to do a job, that is race discrimination.

You can’t be treated differently because of your accent in Texas

September 19, 2017 | Law Office of Rob Wiley, P.C.

Both Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 guard against workplace discrimination that occurs on the basis of an employee’s national origin. National origin is a characteristic that refers to one’s birthplace, ancestry, culture, or linguistic characteristics. Often, national origin discrimination overlaps with race, religion, or color, which are also protected characteristics. For example, discrimination against those from Middle Eastern countries can be motivated by both national origin and the assumption that they subscribe to particular religious practices. Accordingly, a complaint we file on your behalf may assert multiple causes of action or grounds of discrimination.

Often, one’s national origin is revealed through accent. For example, if you grew up in Iran and immigrated to the United States as a young adult, you may still have traces of an Iranian accent. Similarly, if you grew up in Mexico and lived mostly among Mexican immigrants after immigrating, you may speak English with an accent.

You cannot be treated differently in a workplace due to your accent or due to a spouse’s or an associate’s accent. National origin discrimination occurs if an employer makes an adverse employment decision based on your accent. For example, an employer is not supposed to refuse to allow you to work in a customer-facing position due to your accent because he wants to create a more wholesome American image for his restaurant. Similarly, an employer is not supposed to turn down a job applicant for a teaching job because he has an Indian accent.

You have the right to a reasonable accommodation in Texas

September 1, 2017 | Law Office of Rob Wiley, P.C.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as well as Texas law, your employer is required to provide you with a reasonable accommodation for your disability, as long as you are qualified to do the job. Reasonable accommodations can include any changes to the workplace or tasks that would allow you to do the job.

For example, you might need altered work hours periodically to see a doctor for disabling diabetes. Similarly, you might need a ramp if you need to use a wheelchair. You might need special software if you have an impairment that involves difficulties using your hands, such as amputation or disabling carpal tunnel syndrome.

Sometimes the reasonable accommodation includes time off from work. This may be provided under the ADA or Texas law, but it may also be provided under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, if your employer is large enough to be covered by this law. Only employers with 50 or more employees are covered. The FMLA requires covered employers to give eligible employees the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a serious health condition. For example, if you have cancer and need time off to go to chemotherapy appointments, your employer may need to accommodate you under the ADA or Texas law. If the chemotherapy doesn’t work, you may be entitled to ADA leave, but you may also be entitled to FMLA leave.

Why no Texas employer should be asking about criminal history

August 1, 2017 | Adam S. Greenfield

Your past should not dictate your future in America. Those who are able to work should be able to work and build their futures. Partially due to a failed war on drugs, which disproportionately affected African Americans and Latinos, one in four Americans who are of working age have a criminal record.

This is problematic because arrests and convictions can make it much harder to get a job. About 92% of employers conduct criminal background checks when they hire, and numerous people are disqualified from jobs based on this type of search, even though they’ve already been acquitted or served their time. There are some limited protections for those with criminal records, but they are insufficient. No employer should ask about criminal history.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has determined that employers that take up a blanket policy of excluding all job applicants who have a criminal record may be using a practice that has a disparate impact on African Americans and Latinos. Title VII prohibits employers from treating people who have similar criminal records differently due to race, national origin, or another characteristic protected under Title VII.

What is the difference between “employment at will” and “right to work”?

July 21, 2017 | Adam S. Greenfield

Many people in Texas and elsewhere get confused between “employment at will” and “right to work.” Both of these terms are legal terms associated with employment law, but they have distinct meanings that are crucial to understand.

Employment at will is a common law doctrine. It means that the employer can terminate the employee arbitrarily and for any reason. An employee is also allowed to leave at will for no reason or any reason. Generally speaking, when employment is at will, employers can change the terms and conditions of employment and either increase or reduce wages.

However, in many cases, an employer and an employee do sign an employment contract. In some cases, the contract specifies that termination is only for just cause, or the employer and employee agree verbally that the employment will end only because of a just cause within a specific window of time. Sometimes employee handbooks provide language that shows employment is not at will, as do certain collective bargaining agreements.

What Fox News teaches us about sexual harassment

July 14, 2017 | Adam S. Greenfield

In April, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was removed from the network due to allegations of sexual harassment. This was just the latest of claims related to sexual harassment that have arisen from the network’s office culture, and the network paid $13 million to settle five claims brought related to O’Reilly starting around 2002. The network’s CEO, Roger Ailes, had been previously removed after over 20 women accused him of sexual harassment and psychological torture over a 20-year period.

One reason O’Reilly lasted so long was that he was extremely popular with viewers. He’d gotten four million viewers on average each night in 2017, and viewers continued to watch in spite of the allegations. Around 50 advertisers eventually pulled out because they didn’t want to be associated with the claims against him, which involved staff and guests being subjected to aggressive sexual advances, verbal abuse, and lewd comments. The staff and guests were ignored when they reported it to management, which is unsurprising because the CEO appears to have also been involved in sexually harassing people.

All the way back in 2002, O’Reilly was observed berating a junior producer, who settled for a small amount. Two years later, another producer sued for sexual harassment on the grounds that O’Reilly had told her inappropriate stories about his sex life, advised her to buy a vibrator, and detailed sex fantasies to her over the phone while masturbating. O’Reilly responded by suing the victim, claiming she was extorting him. They settled for $9 million.

EEOC settles class action against Texas Roadhouse for alleged age discrimination

July 11, 2017 | Adam S. Greenfield

This lawsuit was based on the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibits discrimination. It protects job applicants and employees who are at least 40 years old from age discrimination with regard to hiring, promotion, compensation, terms or conditions of employment, and termination. It’s enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Under federal law, there is no age discrimination against employees who are younger than 40 years old.

You may be able to establish an age discrimination case under federal law by proving: (1) you’re a member of a protected class of people ages 40-70, (2) you suffered an adverse employment action, (3) people much younger than you filled the position that you wanted or from which you were terminated, and (4) you were qualified for the job that you were dismissed or rejected from doing. Generally, your age must have been the only reason the employer decided to take an adverse step against you.

If you’re able to establish discrimination under the ADEA, your employer must articulate a valid nondiscriminatory reason for taking the step against you. Sometimes an employer offers one or more valid reasons, the presumption that you were discriminated against is eliminated, and then you’ll need to present evidence that is enough for a fact-finder to decide that the employer’s reasons were a pretext to take the decision that was taken. Often, it’s necessary to conduct discovery to show that there are contradictions or inconsistencies in how the employer acted.

Can women make it in the tech industry?

July 7, 2017 | Adam S. Greenfield

The technology industry is widely known for embracing different and disruptive ways of doing things. Technology leaders often break with tradition and beat their own drum. However, when it comes to hiring women, the technology industry does not have a positive track record. This doesn’t mean that women can’t make it, but it does mean that they will likely face an uphill battle.

Women make up 59% of America’s total workforce but make up only 30% of the workforce in major technology companies. Often, they are put into jobs like marketing or HR. They only hold about 17% of Google technology jobs and 15% of technology jobs at Facebook. Only five of the 41 Fortune 500 companies in the technology sector have a woman CEO. About 40% of women who have an engineering degree don’t wind up in a job or stay long enough to rise in their career.

The problem of sex discrimination in the tech industry has recently been given a lot of play by the media. In April the Silicon Valley company Palantir Technologies agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle charges of hiring discrimination, among other accusations. Palantir is a software company founded in 2004 that specializes in data analysis. Its clients are private companies, law enforcement agencies, and federal government agencies. The company is prohibited by law from discriminating on the basis of race, national origin, color, or sex and is supposed to take steps to affirmatively ensure equal opportunities.

Women are still paid less than men. When will we finally get equal pay for equal work?

June 23, 2017 | Adam S. Greenfield

In spite of overblown claims about post-feminism in the past several years, women continue to be paid less than men over their lifetimes. Often, those trying to fight this fact argue that women might be paid less because they have more responsibility for children or because they don’t negotiate their salaries as well or because they choose lower-paid positions. However, gender bias affects women of all ages, education levels, and races.

According to a study by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), women working full time in the United States are paid just 80% of what men are paid, which is a gap of 20%. The gap is even worse for women of color, although it has narrowed since 1960. Women are only expected to reach pay parity with men in 2059, and then only if progress doesn’t stall as it has since 2001. Recently, progress has stalled, and it is possible women’s salaries won’t be on par with men’s salaries until 2152—not even during the lifetimes of girls born today.

As a result of the gender pay gap, about 14% of adult women under age 65 are living below the federal poverty level, as compared to 11% of men. Meanwhile, 10% of women over retirement age are living below the federal poverty level. The pay gap continues to affect retirees because when women retire, they don’t get as much income from Social Security or pensions because they were paid less during their work years.

When your boss is a racist

June 16, 2017 | Adam S. Greenfield

Federal and Texas laws prohibit discriminating on the basis of race. If your boss is a racist who takes an adverse employment action against you because of your race, you may have grounds to file a lawsuit. The primary federal law that prohibits workplace race discrimination is Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law applies to private employers that employ 15 or more employees.

Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 also prohibits race discrimination. Under this law, an employer cannot base its employment decisions on its assumptions or stereotypes about the performance of certain races, or on a job applicant or employee’s association with individuals of particular races, membership in ethnic-based organizations, or participation in schools or houses of worship associated with specific minority groups. They aren’t permitted to isolate or segregate employees of certain races from customer contact, exclude them from certain positions or regions, or code applications to designate race for the purpose of excluding them from particular positions.

If your boss is racist, and you believe he or she is making employment decisions based on race, you may eventually need to file a charge or lawsuit. You will need proof in order to successfully prevail on your claim. You should record incidents of abusive behavior or racism immediately after they occur and keep your notes in a place that others cannot access. In your entry, you should note the date and time and describe what happened.