In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was enacted to protect Americans from various forms of discrimination. At first, it outlawed discrimination based on gender, race and ethnicity. Later, additional laws were passed to protect individuals from other forms of discrimination including age and disability. Unfortunately, even with these protections in place, workplace discrimination still occurs in Fort Lauderdale as well as other cities in Florida and across the United States.
In many instances, discrimination can be subtle and almost undetectable. If fact, employees often do not realize that they are being subjected to unfair practices. This is why it is important to know how to recognize the signs of workplace discrimination.
Assignment of duties
One of the ways that managers discriminate against a protected group of employees is through the unfair assignment of work duties. For example, you might notice that some tasks are only assigned to a particular ethnic group. Or, perhaps women are skipped over when management is assigning certain tasks that can lead to advancement. Another way that you might see discrimination in the assignment of duties is if people of a certain age or with disabilities are excluded from specific tasks or projects.
Harassment
A worker who experiences harassment from coworkers, supervisors or management may be a victim of workplace discrimination. Harassment the appears in the form of offensive remarks and humiliates an individual employee or a certain group of workers most likely falls under acts of discrimination that the law prohibits. For example, if a manager is constantly making remarks or jokes about a particular group of people, then discrimination may be a problem.
Unfair promotion process
In general, the promotion process should be 100 percent merit-based. Unfortunately, management may be more likely to promote their friends or favorites among the lower ranks of workers. While this may not be discrimination, if you notice that a certain gender, ethnic group or age group is receiving all of the promotions, management may be discriminating against other workers instead of basing advancement on merit and performance.
Preferential treatment
Another form of subtle discrimination is preferential treatment. For instance, if white males that always clock in late never receive disciplinary action while a Latino worker is immediately disciplined, demoted or fired for arriving late one time, then management may be giving preferential treatment to the white male employees over other groups.
If you have noticed any of the above behaviors at your place of employment, then discrimination may be an issue. As a victim of workplace discrimination, you have the right to fight back through legal action and possibly receive compensation for any damages you have suffered.