Recognizing Employment Discrimination in the Workplace

State and federal civil rights laws prohibit employers from discriminating against job applicants and employees on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, disability, or age. These legal protections are central to ensuring fairness and equal opportunity at work.

If you've experienced unequal treatment at your job, our employment attorneys can help you understand your rights and evaluate whether you may have a claim for employee discrimination.

What Is Employee Discrimination?

Employment discrimination occurs when an employer considers a protected characteristic—such as race, sex, religion, or disability—when making decisions about:

• Advertising, recruiting, and interviewing

• Hiring, training, and promotions

• Compensation, benefits, and retirement plans

• Employee discipline, layoffs, and termination

In addition, the law prohibits retaliation against individuals who report discrimination, participate in investigations, or otherwise assert their rights under anti-discrimination laws.

What Does Employment Discrimination Look Like?

Discrimination is not always overt. It can range from blatant bias to more subtle forms of unequal treatment. Below are examples of employment discrimination in real-world workplace scenarios:

Race

Hamza, an Arab flight attendant with a strong performance record, is terminated shortly after a marketing survey suggests lower passenger safety ratings on flights with Arab crew members. His supervisor removes him from the schedule and later cites "poor performance" as the reason for termination.

This is an example of race-based employment discrimination.

Sex and Gender

Tyler, an experienced daycare teacher and bookstore employee, applies for a promotion to run a children’s storytime program. The owner refuses, saying the job is "women’s work" and implies that it is inappropriate for men to work with children.

This is sex and gender discrimination.

Religion

Sarah, a Jewish employee, had previously received schedule accommodations to observe the Sabbath. When a new manager refuses to continue the accommodation and punishes her for trading shifts—while not disciplining others who did the same—she is ultimately terminated.

This is religious discrimination in violation of federal law.

National Origin

Sergio, a Mexican-American employee, is harassed by a coworker who makes comments about deportation and frequently mocks him. Despite Sergio’s complaints, management takes no corrective action and tells him to "ignore it."

This constitutes national origin-based harassment and discrimination.

Disability

Carla, a truck driver born with one arm, asks to be assigned trucks with power steering as a reasonable accommodation for a medical condition. Her employer refuses. After sustaining further injury, she is terminated because she can no longer perform her job.

This is disability discrimination due to failure to accommodate.

Age (40+ years old)

Richard, a 65-year-old employee, develops a social media strategy that his company adopts. When he applies to lead the new marketing team, he is passed over in favor of a younger candidate. The CEO says they wanted a “fresh face” and a “digital native.”

This is age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

Retaliation

Clark supports a colleague’s sexual harassment complaint during an HR investigation. Soon after, he sees his hours drastically reduced without justification. An EEOC investigation finds no business-related reason for the change and confirms that others were working overtime while Clark was cut from the schedule.

This is unlawful retaliation for participating in a protected activity.

Do You Need an Employment Attorney?

At Beck & Grant, our employment attorneys advocate for workers who have experienced employee discrimination, harassment, or retaliation. If you've been treated unfairly because of your race, religion, gender, disability, national origin, age, or because you spoke up about workplace injustice, we may be able to help.

Click here for a free case evaluation.