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Dealing with discrimination while you’re at work is something that nobody wants to have to go through. Not only is it disruptive to your working routine and hurtful to you personally – it’s also illegal and can result in valid legal responses from yourself and your legal team.
In this article, we’re going to look at how you should respond to discrimination in the workplace, taking the appropriate steps in order to protect yourself, and people like you, from treatment that falls beyond the line of the law.
Be Sure
If you feel that you’ve experienced discrimination at work, you should first make sure that you are truly experiencing it. As anyone who regularly feels discriminated against will know, it can be difficult to know where the line is, and when individuals or groups cross it when it comes to your rights and how you feel they are being violated – either by microaggressions or by larger statements.
In these cases, it’s important that you check your rights and what the legal definition of discrimination is. There is a legal definition – even though this is a gray area today – which can help you understand what kinds of discrimination you can prove you are experiencing. Reflect now on how you’ve been treated. If you still feel that you’ve been discriminated against, it’s time to take action.
Talk to Managers
If you feel that the discrimination coming your way is from one individual or a small group of individuals, it should be easy to go over their heads by talking directly with a manager who you’ll persuade to sanction those involved in the discrimination. In this process, you should feel comfortable and confident approaching a manager for an urgent, private meeting. Tell them there is something important that you need to discuss with them.
In your meeting, you should be forthright with your accusations. Use the legal wording that you’ve learned to describe how you feel you’re being treated unfairly at work. Listen to what your manager says and see if they’re taking your complaint seriously. If they do take it seriously, this might be the end of the matter. If they don’t, it may be time to change your approach.
Legal Challenge
You are free to make a legal challenge against an employer at any time, though it’s perhaps advisable, if you wish to remain in your job, to go through internal channels first before making your decision to involve a law firm in your case. By running your complaint by your managers first and mentioning that you’re considering legal action, you’ll give employers the biggest-possible incentive to listen, learn and take action.
Still, you’d be surprised by how many firms do not take action despite being shown that their company is soon to find itself liable for payouts in discrimination cases in a court of law. Lawyers help win lawsuit regarding discrimination all the time, securing huge payouts for those individuals who feel they’ve been slighted in the workplace. It’s your responsibility to sort out this legal challenge, though, and that means finding lawyers and legal representatives.
Working With Lawyers
If you’re able to find the right law firm that’s sensitive to your needs and your case, you’ll find that legal proceedings are a breeze and that your representatives take much of the strain off your shoulders when they begin working on your case. But you still need to find the right legal representatives to support you. One of the great places to look for these representatives is in unions – places which are proven to protect workers across the US.
If you cannot find any union lawyers to help you, which is often the case if you’re not a member of a union yourself, you should instead search online for those firms that are famous for representing individuals with similar cases to your own. These should not be difficult to find: they’re workplace law attorneys and you’ll be able to find some of the most famous ones by searching about the legal cases in your area which have been to do with workplace discrimination. When you find these firms, get in touch and organize to meet. It’s time to launch your legal challenge.
Conclusion
Discrimination in the workplace is unfair and illegal and it needs to be addressed and pushed back against by whatever means necessary. It’s only right that you attempt to deal with any issues that arise in your workplace internally, but if internal justice isn’t served, then you’re within your legal rights to sue your company and secure a large payout if you win your discrimination case against your employer.
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