Race Discrimination

The Supreme Court has just announced that it will hear the religious discrimination filed by a Muslim woman against clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. The Title VII employment discrimination matter involves the case of a Muslim teenager who was rejected from a job she applied to as floor staff because she didn’t meet their “Look…

Despite significant progress in race relations, race discrimination continues to affect many work places – whether its discrimination in hiring or promoting, or having to endure offensive comments or slurs. Fortunately, Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating against their employees “because of” their race or color. That means that employers may not take your race…

In certain circumstances a company or business may have a policy that seems to be neutral, but upon closer look may in fact be discriminatory. This may be because the policy or practice has a “disparate impact” that negatively affects a particular race. In a recent case, Jones v. City of Boston, the U.S. Court of…

News reports that two former contestants on the Amazing Race have filed an employment discrimination lawsuit alleging that they were not hired due to their race and religion. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate in terms of employment of the basis of an individual’s race, color, sex,…

Despite advances in race relations, unfortunately work place discrimination and harassment continues to exist throughout the country. A recent case evaluated the situation of a white worker who alleged he was fired because he was engaged to a black woman. In Matusick v. Erie Cnty. Water Authority, the man – Scott Matusick – was engaged to…

A recent race discrimination case looked at who should be held responsible for alleged discriminatory actions at a construction site. In EEOC v. Skanska USA Bldg., Inc. a group of black workers hired by a subcontractor brought a claim for discrimination based on race harassment that occurred at the site. Specifically, the men alleged that they…

Many times workers face the difficult situation of being laid off as the result of a “reduction in force.” But how do you know if that reduction in force is really masking employment discrimination? In a recent case – Rachells v. Cingular Wireless Emp. Servs., LLC, – a black employee – Rachells – alleged that he…

Unfortunately, a significant amount of racism surfaced during President Obama’s first campaign, as well as his second campaign against Mitt Romney. In a particularly offensive race harassment case, an Ohio worker suffered numerous hostile actions at work as the result of wearing a pro-Obama shirt. In Paasewe v. Action Group, Inc., an Ohio employee of African…

Despite improvements in race relations over the last several decades, many instances of racism still exist in the workplace. Two different federal laws exist that protect against race discrimination in the workplace – Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1981. Title VII prohibits employers from taking race into…