Many employees are aware that it is illegal for employers to discriminate against them on the basis of race. This is to promote equal opportunities for all workers in the United States. It is no longer legal for a company to say they will not hire African-American workers, for example, and any indication of this type of discrimination can lead to serious litigation against that company. It is a violation of the worker’s rights.
But it is also important to remember that this extends beyond race. There are some related protected classes that offer additional protections, even when an employer tries to claim that race was not the main issue.
National origin
One example is discrimination based on national origin, or where a person is from. This could happen regardless of a person’s race. It would still be illegal for an employer to discriminate against applicants from a certain country or even from a certain region or part of the world.
It used to be that people would assume individuals of certain races came from specific countries or regions, but the modern world is much more integrated, and people have much greater freedom of movement. As such, people with many different racial or ethnic backgrounds could all be from the same country, and it is still illegal for employers to discriminate against workers from that country, regardless of these other factors.
A similar example is that employers cannot discriminate based on someone’s skin color. Regardless of their race, the country they were born in, or where their parents are from, color discrimination is still illegal.
What are your options?
If you face discrimination, you need to know what legal steps to take. It can help to work with an experienced law firm at this time.