How to Deal With Discrimination At Work
Having to deal with discrimination in the workplace, whether it’s remote or in an office, is both a stressful and challenging situation. To make things worse, you often don’t know what to do or how to respond when someone discriminates against you in the workplace.
Discrimination feels violating and criminal. However, it can also stir up a plethora of emotions when contemplating to ignore it or if you need to go to an employment discrimination lawyer to seek a resolution. Keep reading to get a better understanding of what to do next and how to deal with discrimination at work.
If you feel like you’re being discriminated at work, follow the steps below to resolve the problem and to make sure it won’t happen to you again.
Document Alleged Discrimination or Harassment
Most employees fail to take action against discrimination because they believe that it will go away.
- If you believe that you are discriminated against in the workplace, you should document the inappropriate acts of your coworkers.
- You should begin documenting the acts of discrimination regardless if you are going to take immediate action against it or see if the inappropriate acts continue on.
- When documenting the discriminatory acts, it should be clear who did it and what happened. You should also include the time of the day it happened and any witnesses, if there are any.
Once you’ve documented a discriminatory act, be sure to report it within a specific time period if you are considering to take legal action against it.
Report Incidents to Your Employer
In the event of discrimination or harassment, you should follow your employer’s policy about these incidents by making a report about it. You should report the discrimination to your supervisor or directly to your employer.
- If your supervisor has committed the act of discrimination, you can report the incident to your supervisor’s supervisor.
- You may also want to report the incident to the company’s human resources department.
- You should request your employer or the human resources department to make a formal investigation about the incident as well as a written report of the said investigation.
As an employee, you should be more proactive in reporting the discrimination to your employer. You also need to continue making follow-up inquiries, especially about the progress of the investigation.
Report Incidents to Local and State Authorities
If nothing has happened after you reported the incident to your employer or if you get a disappointing result from reporting the discrimination to your employer, you may choose to report the incident to the local or state authorities.
There are various local and state government agencies that can handle workplace discrimination issues.
Note that discrimination law may vary from state to state and there’s also a deadline to meet if you want to report the discrimination in the workplace to the federal or state authorities.
Pursue a Legal Action Against Discrimination
You may also want to consult a Workplace Discrimination Attorney first if you are looking to sue your employer for discrimination at work.
- You should look for an attorney that specializes and has a good experience in employment law.
- You can also go to advocacy groups that fight discrimination in the workplace to assist you in making the appropriate legal action.
Don’t pursue legal action against discrimination at work without talking to an attorney first. Also, when talking to your attorney, show him/her the documentation of the incident to figure out if you have a strong case for suing your employer for the discrimination.
Talk to the Discriminator Directly
Maybe the act of discrimination was unintentional, and it was not your coworker’s intention to hurt you physically or emotionally. If that is the case, maybe talking to your coworker will do the job.
- Talk to the coworker who did it and tell him that what he did was unwelcome and unacceptable.
- You can also tell him that you don’t want the incident to happen again as it is really offensive to you.
- When talking to your coworker, it’s important that you don’t want to be too confrontational. You have to stay calm and relax and tell him what you felt about the incident.
If your coworker understands that you didn’t like what he/she has done, the discrimination may not happen again. But if the discrimination still goes on after you talked to him/her it’s best to report the incident to your supervisor or employer.
Review the Company’s Anti-Discrimination Policy
Every business is required to lay out anti-discrimination policies to protect their employees. Review your company’s anti-discrimination policy, so you will know what to do in case these incidents happen in the workplace.
Discrimination or harassment at work can give an employee a hard time. It affects an employee’s emotional, physical, and mental state. Employees who suffer from discrimination are found to be less productive, depressed, and physically unhealthy. And compared to able-bodied employees, those reporting back to work despite sustaining massive physical injuries resulting from a car accident are more prone to being discriminated at work in which case they may contact a personal injury lawyer here.
If you think you’re a victim of discrimination or harassment at work, don’t hesitate to act quickly and do the things above. Be aware of how your coworkers or your employer treats you so you can respond to their acts of discrimination accordingly.
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Author: Timothy Garret
Timothy is a budding law writer who enjoys all aspect of the law industry. He’s currently studying to become a lawyer and is applying his law knowledge into what he writes about. He spends time with his friends and swimming in his spare time.