It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against any employee because of his/her race, ethnicity or color. An employee cannot be denied equal employment opportunity because of his/her racial group or perceived racial group, his/her race-linked characteristics (e.g., hair texture, color, facial features), or because of his/her marriage to or association with someone of a particular race, ethnicity or color. Federal, state and local laws also prohibit employment decisions based on stereotypes and assumptions about abilities, traits or the performance of individuals of certain racial or ethnic groups. These laws apply regardless of whether the discrimination is directed at Whites, African-Americans, Asians, Latinos, Arabs, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, multi-racial individuals, or persons of any other race, ethnicity or color.

In addition, racial jokes, ethnic slurs and offensive or otherwise derogatory remarks that are made because of an individual’s race may constitute unlawful race, ethnicity or color discrimination if the conduct creates a hostile work environment.

There are generally two basic types of race, ethnicity and color discrimination claims:

• Disparate-treatment discrimination occurs when race, ethnicity, color or another protected trait is a motivating factor in how an individual is treated.
• Disparate-impact discrimination occurs when a neutral policy or practice has a significant negative impact on one or more protected groups and either the policy or practice is not job-related and consistent with business necessity, or there is a less discriminatory alternative and the employer has refused to adopt it.

A few examples of possible race, ethnic or color discrimination include, but are certainly not limited to, the following:

• You are required to work in a separate or isolated area from employees of other races, or you are not allowed to participate in work-related activities in which you would be in contact with employees of different races.
• You are denied the ability to advance in the organization where you are employed, while individuals of a lower skill set, but of a different race, are permitted to advance.
• Your position and the positions of others in the same racial group as you were eliminated during company layoffs, but most of the employees of a different race were able to keep their positions or were reassigned to other positions.

If you believe that you are being discriminated against at work because of your race, ethnicity or color, you should be aware that laws exist to protect you from unlawful racial discrimination. The attorneys at Schwartz & Perry LLP would be pleased to meet and discuss your concerns with you. There is no charge for the initial consultation. Please feel free to call us at (212) 889-6565 or contact us online.