Many people, when they hear the phrase “employment discrimination,” may associate those words with women, people of color, older workers, LGBTQ+ people or religious minorities. The reality is, however, that anyone can pursue a claim for discrimination in California if they can show that they suffered discrimination on the job on the basis of sex, race, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. If you think you’ve been the target of illegal discrimination, act with all due speed to protect your rights. Contact a knowledgeable Oakland employment attorney right away.
A case recently filed by an employee of a major package shipping company is an illustration in point. According to Patch.com, M.M. had worked for the company for 12 years. In 2017, his job duties included assigning driving duties to the employer’s delivery drivers serving Los Angeles County. Allegedly, a driver shortage led M.M. to assign extra work to the existing drivers, which angered P.F. According to M.M., the driver responded in several ways, including speaking in an insubordinate manner and making false allegation about M.M. to the employer’s human resources department. The alleged falsehoods included M.M. physically assaulting P.F.
According to M.M., the employer knew that the driver’s accusations were false, but the employer feared that P.F., who was Latino, would escalate claims of racism and file additional grievances or sue the employer. The employer also allegedly feared upsetting other Latino drivers, leading it to terminate M.M. in an effort to “appease” P.F. and the company’s other Latino employees, Patch.com reported.
M.M.’s allegations appear to lay the groundwork for a claim of disparate treatment discrimination. Disparate treatment discrimination is a type of illegal employment conduct that occurs when the employer treats a certain person or group differently than others based upon that protected class. Race is one of those protected classes, and a person of any race can potentially be the victim of racial discrimination, including disparate treatment discrimination.
In order to win a disparate treatment case based upon your having been terminated because of your race, you need to prove several things to the court. They include: That the defendant was an employer, that you were an employee of the company, that you were fired or constructively discharged, that your race was a “substantial motivating factor” in your termination, that you suffered harm as a result and the employer’s conduct was a “substantial factor” in that harm.
M.M.’s case asserted that the details of his termination displayed a bias against him because he was white. Specifically, M.M. alleged that he was terminated for swearing, an occurrence that was an extremely frequent one in the “rough-hewn” world of shipping and trucking. His lawsuit stated that, despite the high frequency of employees swearing, “no employee had ever been reprimanded, let alone terminated, for swearing” until the employer fired M.M., according to Patch.com. That, if proven to be true in court, could go a long way in helping M.M. to present a successful case of discrimination.
If you have suffered as a result of racial discrimination, regardless of your race, you should take action. Start by retaining the Oakland employment attorneys at the Law Offices of Stephen M. Fuerch. We have helped many workers who have been harmed because of illegal adverse employment actions taken against them due to illegal discriminatory motivations. To learn more about what we can do for you, contact us through our website or call our office at (925) 463-2575 to schedule your confidential initial consultation today.
More Blog Posts:
How California Law May Let You Avoid Arbitration in Your Discrimination Case, Even If You Signed an Arbitration Agreement, Oakland Personal Injury Attorney Blog, Dec. 26, 2018
New Regulations Established by California Clarify and Expand What Can Constitute National Origin Discrimination in the Workplace, Oakland Personal Injury Attorney Blog, Sept. 28, 2018