How to Report Job Discrimination

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It’s one thing to suspect you are the target of employment discrimination, but another to know what to do about it. Even if all your coworkers agree there is a problem, you still need to use the proper channels to stop workplace harassment. Find out how to report job discrimination at work and what a lawyer can do to help.

In this blog, I will review the various methods to report job discrimination, as well as discrimination in hiring. I will explain how consulting an attorney early in the process can help you secure your claim and protect your rights.

When to Report Job Discrimination

Employment discrimination happens whenever an employer bases work decisions on a protected trait of its employees. This can include hiring, firing, promotions or wage negotiations, as well as shift and duty assignments. Job discrimination can also take the form of harassment when a manager, supervisor, coworker, or even customer creates a hostile work environment because of statements or actions related to an employee’s protected traits. These traits include:

  • Race
  • Color
  • National origin
  • Sex or gender
  • Pregnancy
  • Religion
  • Disability
  • Age

When job discrimination happens, it should be reported as soon as possible. But where and how that report is filed will depend on the circumstances including your employer’s code of conduct, you state laws, and your desired outcome.

Internal Job Discrimination Reporting

In most cases, there will need to be some form of internal complaint process about working conditions before a report can be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or a lawsuit filed in court. On the most basic level, asking coworkers to stop making flirtatious comments or using racial slurs, for example, is an important step to proving the behavior was unwanted.

The formality of your internal job discrimination complaint will depend on your employer’s policies. It could be as simple as sending an email to your boss or the head of the company. The bigger the business, the more likely it will have a formal complaint procedure. This is usually included in an employee code of conduct. It will lay out who receives complaints and what form they should take. No matter how straightforward the process, always document your complaints in writing (including email). Even if you have a chat with your boss, follow it up with an note thanking him or her for listening and reciting any next steps that were planned.

If you work in a labor-controlled field, reporting job discrimination will most likely include filing a grievance with your union representative. Labor unions often have strict procedures that govern when they will advocate on behalf of an employee. Failing to follow those procedures can interfere with your claim later on.

Many workplace harassment claims are successfully resolved through internal reporting. However, if your complaint is against your supervisor, especially if it has to do with employment decisions, you should be prepared to take the matter outside the office. Also, if your complaint is that a company failed to hire you because of job discrimination, you do not need to comply with its internal reporting policies.

Filing an EEOC Complaint

When internal reports can’t solve the problem, you may need to report job discrimination to the EEOC or an equivalent state agency. You do this by filing a charge at one of the agency’s field offices (generally the office closest to where you live or work). In many states, “worksharing agreements” between the EEOC and the local Fair Employment Practices Agency (FEPA) will result in simultaneous complaints being filed for violations of both state and federal workplace discrimination laws. One investigation applies to both claims and results in determinations by each agency based on its on laws.

There are time limits to filing discrimination charges with the EEOC. Generally, an employee must issue his or her job discrimination report within 180 days of the event. This deadline is sometimes extended to 300 days, if state or local laws also apply. Federal employees are under a much tighter deadline. They must usually file their complaints with the EEOC within 45 days of the incident. These are rolling dates, so if multiple instances of discrimination were involved, the employee can only receive compensation for events that happened within the appropriate period immediately before the charge was filed.

Filing a Federal Lawsuit

Sometimes, an EEOC complaint isn’t enough to address on-the-job discrimination. In those cases, an employee may need to file an employment discrimination lawsuit in state or federal court. Most of the time, the EEOC or equivalent state agency will have to sign off on the charge first, before a legal complaint can be filed. Even then, only the behavior that was part of the EEOC complaint can be included in the federal lawsuit.

An Employment Discrimination Lawyer Can Help

Even if you don’t think a federal lawsuit is necessary, it can still be a good idea to discuss how to report job discrimination with an experienced employment attorney early in the process. At Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, our employment discrimination attorneys can help you determine if what you are experiencing qualifies as illegal discrimination and create a plan to address it. We can help you understand your internal job discrimination reporting requirements so that nothing gets missed. We can also negotiate directly with your employer to correct the problem without the need for court.

Getting a lawyer involved early can also be helpful to limit the impact of retaliation. If you report job discrimination (targeting yourself or others), your employer is not legally allowed to punish you for it. Still, retaliation is a real risk. Our lawyers will help you create a plan for what to do in case your employer decides to take it out on you. We will help you:

  • Identify the subtle signs of retaliation (i.e. negative performance reviews, shift assignment changes, or being passed over for promotion)
  • Create a plan for preserving evidence of your employer’s discrimination
  • Gather support from witnesses in the workplace
  • Prepare to respond in case you are fired for filing a complaint.

An employment discrimination lawyer can also help you file your EEOC complaint and navigate the investigative process. Our employment discrimination attorneys will make sure your complaint includes all the necessary information and asserts all of your rights, including any retaliation claims. This will preserve them in case a lawsuit becomes necessary later on.

Hiring an employment discrimination attorney shouldn’t be the last straw. It should be the first step to protecting yourself and your coworkers from ongoing employment discrimination. Don’t wait until you are fired or forced to quit. Contact Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, today to schedule a consultation with a skilled employment attorney. We will help you take control of your job discrimination claim.

Sexual Harassment, a Blog Post, and a Shakeup at Uber

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Can a whistleblower ever make a difference in a big company? Do you have to make a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or could something as simple as a blog post make a difference? Find out how one former employee’s online complaint has caused a shakeup at the top of Uber.

In this blog post I will describe how a blog post by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler describing sexual harassment and retaliation led to an independent investigation and the resignation of CEO and founder Travis Kalanick. I will review the recommendations made to revise company policy and culture and explain how internal policy can affect claims of discrimination and harassment.

Former Employee’s Blog Reports Sexual Harassment

A former Uber site reliability engineer (SRE), Susan Fowler, left the company after a year of sexual harassment and retaliation issues. Her blog post, published in February 2017, blew the whistle on a corporate culture that gave free passes for sexual harassment to high performers within the company. She claimed that early in her employment, her manager inviting her to have sex with him and his wife in their open relationship. She complained about it to HR, but they claimed it was his first offense and only issued a warning.

Over the next several months, she learned of several other female engineers with similar experiences. HR and upper management gave similar warnings, claiming that no other complaints had ever been filed, even against the same manager.

Over the next year, internal management changes made Fowler want to change project teams. In spite of positive performance reviews and a lack of complaints, she claims her transfer was refused based on unreported performance problems. Then her next performance review was changed after the fact without notice. She claimed management relied on a lack of “upward career trajectory”. The negative review caused her to once again be rejected for a transfer and lose tuition assistance from the company.

According to Fowler, in 2015 when she joined Uber, 25% of the organization was women. By the time she left that number had dropped to 3%. At one point the organization used the drop in women employees as a justification for sexual discrimination, allegedly refusing to provide leather jackets to their female employees because the low numbers meant they would not receive a bulk discount. It was this incident that caused HR to call her in for a “difficult conversation” in which she claimed the representative threatened to fire her for reporting things to HR.

Uber Responds to Whistleblower Blog

Fowler’s blog post went viral, forcing Uber to respond to her allegations of sexual assault. They hired the law firms of Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling to do a probe into the systemic sexism claims. Former Attorney General Eric Holder and Tammy Albarran took a close look at the company’s culture and policies.

In the midst of the probe, another Uber employee came forward, saying he was fired for standing up for female coworkers facing sex-based discrimination and harassment. He alleged that he raised concerns with HR, and was fired soon thereafter.

The probe resulted in Uber firing over 20 employees on June 6, 2017. Forty more were reprimanded or referred to counseling and training. A week later Uber released the lawyers’ recommendations after the board agreed to adopt them all. This will include:

  • Changes in senior leadership including removing CEO Travis Kalanick’s responsibilities and promoting Uber’s Head of Diversity, Bernard Coleman
  • Cultural changes eliminating policies like “Let Builders Build”, “Always Be Hustlin'”, “Meritocracy and Toe-Stepping” and “Principled Confrontation”
  • Increases board oversight of diversity and inclusion efforts
  • Developing internal controls including tracking of discrimination and harassment complaints
  • Mandatory training for managers, executives, and HR employees
  • Emphasizing diversity in inclusion in hiring and training
  • Policy changes that make sexual harassment more difficult and transfers easier
  • Addressing employee retention concerns
  • Review equal pay practices

At that time, Kalanick took a leave of absence as CEO, saying that his direct reports and leadership team would be running the company. On June 21, 2017, he formally resigned.

Susan Fowler’s story shows that a single whistleblower can sometimes bring about changes, even in the biggest tech companies. In an industry facing repeated claims of sexual discrimination, Uber’s response to an engineer’s blog post shows that protection for employees can still happen.

If you are facing sexual harassment or a culture of discrimination at work, you don’t have to hope your blog post goes viral. The skilled employment discrimination attorneys at Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, can negotiate with the company your behalf. We can help you push for change that will help you and your coworkers be able to work free of mistreatment. When negotiations fail, we can take the matter to the EEOC or court. Contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation and get your case started.

Religious Discrimination at Work: Is it Getting Worse?

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Religion has become a political talking point over the last year. But has all the press around President Donald Trump’s campaign and later travel bans affected religious minorities’ ability to do their jobs? Is religious discrimination at work getting worse?

In this blog post I will review Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, and how it applies to religious discrimination. I will give examples of how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission addresses religious discrimination in hiring and workplace accommodations. And I will explain what to do if you think you are being discriminated against because of your faith.

What is Religious Discrimination?

Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee because of that person’s religion (among other traits). Religious discrimination includes treating a person differently at work because of his or her sincerely held religious beliefs. The law protects current and former employees, as well as applicants. It covers members of established religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, as well as anyone who has sincerely held religious, ethical, or moral beliefs. It also applies to discrimination based on the religion of a person’s spouse.

State and federal religious discrimination laws protect against biased decision making in hiring, scheduling, and promotions. They also forbid religious harassment. This includes making offensive remarks about a person’s religious beliefs or practices, but only if they are serious or frequent enough to create a hostile work environment. The federal Civil Rights Act also requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for an employee’s religious beliefs unless doing so would create a burden on the employer’s business. An employer can be required to make reasonable adjustments to scheduling, dress code, or other company policies to allow employees to follow the teachings of their faith.

Examples of Religious Discrimination

Over the years, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission has taken on a number of religious discrimination cases. In recent years, many have involved discrimination against Muslim employees because of their religious observances. Recent EEOC cases include claims that employers:

  • Failed to accommodate Muslim prayer practices, particularly during Ramadan
  • Refused to hire Muslim women who wore a hijab or khimar (head scarves)
  • Fired Muslim truck drivers who refused to transport alcohol
  • Created a hostile work environment by labeling Muslim employees “terrorists” and “habeebies” and saying they “blow things up”
  • Refused to accommodate Islamic and Sikh employees by allowing them to wear beards at work
  • Fired employees who sought to observe their religion while at work
  • Retaliated against employees who sought religious accommodation

What is Reasonable Religious Accommodation?

Religious employees are permitted to request reasonable accommodations for the practice of their faith. But if those accommodations can be denied if they would negatively affect the employer’s business. History has shown this impact can be very small and still be enough to qualify as undue hardship. If the accommodation reduces an employee’s efficiency, infringes on other employees’ rights or benefits, impairs workplace safety, or shifts undesirable work to other employees, it could be considered unreasonable.

Employers have also been successful in claiming that a person’s religious clothing or appearance (such as a Sikh’s beard) interfere with the company’s brand or public image. However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., the United States Supreme Court held that the company’s interest in its “look policy” wasn’t strong enough to outweigh a teenage Muslim employee’s right to wear a religious head covering.

Are Presidential Policies Affecting Religious Discrimination?

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign included language that many saw as anti-Muslim. Now that he is President, his executive orders banning travel from predominantly Muslim countries are tied up in court based on the fact that they are based on illegal religious discrimination. This as led some to wonder whether his rhetoric could be making religious discrimination at work worse.

The EEOC has reported that workplace discrimination was already on the rise in the decades leading up to Donald Trump’s presidency. In 2013, it reported that complaints of religious discrimination at work had doubled, from 1,709 in 1997, to 3,721 in 2013. In 2011 there were over 4,000 religious discrimination claims. Internationally, universities in the United Kingdom have been reporting a significant increase in hate speech against Muslim and Jewish students. At least one study, released in 2014, suggests that simply including any religion on a résumé reduces the chance an employee will be called back.

Policy changes made by Donald Trump may also create hurdles for employers seeking to hire members of certain religious faiths, particularly Muslims. If the U.S. Supreme Court decides to fully reinstate the travel ban it could make it harder for employees of that faith to travel for work. His policies on immigration could also cause employers to believe hiring employees who openly practice a minority religion often associated with immigrants could invite a raid on their premises and disrupt their business.

Whether there is an objective increase in the number of religious discrimination claims as the result of President Trump’s words or policies remains to be seen. Religious discrimination caused by a national politician, or the biases of an individual employer, is still illegal under federal and state law. If you have been denied religious accommodation or believe you were passed over or let go because of your religious beliefs, contact Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, today to talk to an employment discrimination attorney. We can help you identify your options, advocate for your rights, and get relief from religious discrimination or harassment at work.