Unfortunately, employment discrimination is a situation that increasingly occurs in work teams in all types of industries. Discriminatory acts can be jokes, malicious comments, rejections, and mistreatment, among other actions. These situations generally affect the performance of the worker who suffers from them; the worker will likely reduce their performance and lose the desire to attend and perform their activities properly.
In cases like these, if the discrimination comes from co-workers, the first recommendation is to report it to your employer or Human Resources department immediately. They must take action on the matter and prevent you from continuing to maintain a cause of these inappropriate behaviors. Generally, they will try to address the issue with the person responsible, take a sanction, or, depending on the seriousness of the situation, could even fire the person who has been committing discriminatory acts.
However, if you have reported your case and have not obtained any support from your employer, or it is your employer who has discriminated against you, there is a commission that can help you proceed legally. This is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is the agency in charge of regulating legal issues regarding employment discrimination, whether based on race, sex, age, etc.
The first step in taking your employee to court will be to file your complaint with the EEOC the way you prefer.
Here are the options to getting ahold of them:
- Visit one of their local offices.
- Call 1-800-669-4000.
- Send an email to info@ask.eeoc.gov.
An attempt will be made to resolve your case through confidential mediation that will seek to help you find a solution later with your employer that may benefit both of you, and if no agreement is reached, your case will go to an investigation in which it will be evaluated with your situation in more detail.
Whatever the case, our lawyers can accompany you during the process. Do not hesitate to contact us to understand your situation better.