The Issue of Discrimination in the Workplace

The United States provides a wide array of job opportunities not only for Americans but also for immigrants. At the most part, a lot of immigrants of different races, ethnicities and religious beliefs converge into this opportunity, which makes the United States the chief “melting pot” of cultural diversity. Everyone wants to live that so-called “American Dream”, and many who are employed in any business venture in the US is lucky enough to be in that situation.

Employment in the United States showcases cultural diversity in the workplace. To begin with, the state of California is one of the main states that have the most number of immigrants coming from other countries. These immigrants from neighboring countries as well as farther ones board on planes, focusing on their opportunity to work in pursuance of the American life. They could achieve career growth in the US, as well as learn interpersonal skills that they can apply every day.

Although these are the expectations of people looking on the current situation of immigrants trying to earn a living in the US, it cannot be avoided that there are some instances of discrimination while under employment. Federal and state employment and labor laws consider any form of discrimination as illegal. Discriminating against an employee by either the employer or another employee destroys the employee’s dignity and his role in the company.

What could be an act of discrimination? An employer could utter a derogatory comment or joke towards an employee in relation to the employee’s race, gender, color, nationality and even physical disability. Stereotyping does not only happen during the employment period, but also during job applications. Job applicants are not given the opportunity to work for a company or a business venture because of stereotyping coming from the employer.

Within the employment period, discrimination can also be done by doing unfair acts in terms of promotions, compensations and terminations. It is considered a discriminatory act if an employee, despite his good performance in the workplace, is not given a job promotion by the employer. So does an unfair distribution of wages and wrongful termination. Equal opportunity in the workplace is important, because the absence of such will create problems in the legal side.

When an employee cannot handle the discrimination happening to him inside the workplace, he can always hire a Los Angeles discrimination attorney. His job is to evaluate the actions of the liable party and help the employee receive compensatory and punitive damages caused by the employer’s discriminatory act.