What is it?
Every employee hopes to get a raise or a promotion. Employees work hard and follow directions so that their employers will choose them for recognition and advancement. Not everyone can advance, but we all assume we have a fair chance. This assumption is consistent with the law. The color of an employee’s skin, and the employee’s race, cultural background or sex should not affect the employee’s ability to get a promotion or a raise. Discriminatory hiring and termination decisions are also not allowed.
What is the consequence?
Unfair treatment based on race, national origin or gender in the workplace is forbidden by state and federal law. Some remedies an employee may seek include:
- A court order to stop the employer’s harmful behavior and to reinstate the employee to his/her former position.
- Back pay if the employee was wrongfully terminated or lost a job opportunity as a result of the discrimination – This may include pay and benefits the employee would have received had the discrimination not occurred.
- Front pay, or pay the employee would have received in the future if the discrimination had not prevented the employee’s return to the workplace.
- Compensatory damages such as pain and suffering
- Punitive damages, unless the employer is a public employer
- Attorney fees for the costs of securing an attorney to fight the case and win.
For more information about unlawful discrimination in the workplace, contact Triquetra Law at: 717-299-6300.