While few people probably spend much time thinking about it, workers throughout the nation deal with discrimination in the workplace. To be actionable in a court of law the discrimination must be based on the employee being part of a protected class. Protected classes include:
Sexual orientation
Pregnancy
Disability
Color
Age
Gender
Race
Creed
National origin
A worker at a popular fast-food chain alleges that she was on the receiving end of racial discrimination when she was fired after 27 years with the business.
Prior to her termination of employment, the Mexican-American woman, who held the title of general manager, said that Taco Bell’s Company Operations Leader visited her restaurant and commented to her that she should not hire people of Hispanic decent. After the woman reported the incident to management, she said she was retaliated against several weeks later with a disciplinary warning and then job termination allegedly due to an I-9 paperwork violation.
Believing her employer’s actions were against the law, she recently filed a lawsuit against her former employer in Federal Court. In it, the woman asserts nationality and gender discrimination as well a violation of 42 U.S.C. §1981. She is seeking damages, costs and lost wages.
The process of working through a discrimination case can be stressful for the employee who filed the case. Because of this it is important to work with a lawyer who understands how these cases generally are resolved. The choice of legal representation could have a great bearing on the outcome of the case.
Source:Â Courthouse News Service, "Irony, Thy Name is Taco Bell," July 29, 2014
