Under federal laws, it is prohibited to discriminate workers based on their religion, gender, pregnancy, disability, age, race, color, and national origin to allow them to work in a healthy and viable environment.

While there are several and state laws that prohibit unlawful discrimination, this social problem is still present in the US workplace.

Dealing with Workplace Discrimination

Women, members of ethnic groups, people of certain religions, disabled individuals, seniors, and homosexuals are traditionally perceived as the common victims of discrimination, thus predisposing them to physical, mental, emotional, and even economic abuse.

However, the cases of discrimination are declining according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after several states, including California, passed a law that requires employers to provide discrimination awareness programs to their workers for at least every two years.

According to occupational psychologists, this strategy has been proven to greatly reduce the incidents of discrimination since bigotry is believed to be rooted to ignorance.

Another effective way to deal with workplace discrimination is setting up a grievance process within the company where workers can report incidents of harassment and other forms of abuses.
To make this process effective, employers should assign the grievance office to a person who is credible, fair, and morally-upright.

According to employment lawyers, grievance process gives a two-way advantage: employees will enjoy their civil rights and enjoy working in a healthy environment free of discrimination, harassment, and abuses while employers can avoid claims and lawsuits which are expensive and can drag on for years.

The EEOC also encourages employers to include discrimination and harassment policy in the employment agreement to allow their workers to know the conducts and behavior that are considered as discriminatory and the consequences for violating such policy.

Providing reasonable accommodations to disabled and pregnant workers is another way to avoid lawsuits and claims. Accommodations include installing equipment and fixtures that allow disabled employees to work easily in the office; reassigning workers to less physically demanding task; and adjusting the work schedule.

However, the federal law does not obligate employers to provide accommodations which can result to undue hardship that will reduce the business productivity, impede with the operation, and create financial losses.

Employment Litigation

If there is an incident of discrimination, employers are usually held liableunless they provide a grievance office and the worker fails to use this.

In case that the workers have experienced discrimination and the company failed to listen to their grievances, they can report the incident to EEOC or local agency that handles employment issues. In this process, lawyers are not usually required.

The agency will then conduct its own investigation to determine if there is indeed a labor violation.

Sometimes, the employment agency proposes a mediation between the complaining workers and their employers to resolve certain issues.

However, if the mediation fails or one of the parties do not consent to this, the workers can file their case to a federal court. In this process, they should hire employment lawyers due to the complexity of the legal proceeding.