Federal Civil Rights Laws in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin. When you apply for a job or are working, your employer is prohibited from considering your race in any way.

If you believe you were the victim of race discrimination, you may take legal action against your employer to recover compensation. Richard Celler Legal, P.A. has extensive experience representing clients whose civil rights were violated by employers. Call today to learn more about how we can help with your discrimination claim.

What Is Race Discrimination? 

Race discrimination occurs when an employer considers your race and allows it to impact hiring decisions, firing decisions or any of the terms and conditions of employment. For example, an employer who refused to hire African American people or who promoted Caucasians over African American people would be guilty of race discrimination.

This type of obvious and overt discrimination is less common today, although it still occurs. However, there are also other types of prohibited discrimination as well.  For example, people may be victims of disparate impact discrimination or hostile environment discrimination on the basis of their race.

Disparate impact discrimination occurs when a test or a job requirement disproportionately disqualifies members of one particular race. For example, if African Americans as a group performed more poorly on a specific test that was a condition of being hired, this could be an example if disparate impact discrimination.  The employer could be liable for the discriminatory behavior unless there was a legitimate bona fide reason for the qualifying criteria that adversely impacted the protected group.

Hostile work environment discrimination occurs when an employee is made to feel uncomfortable on the basis of his race.  Co-workers, peers and even subordinates can all contribute to the creation of a hostile work environment.  For example, if racist comments are freely made around the workplace or if emails are sent out disparaging people of a particular racial or ethnic background, this could interfere with your ability to do your job.  If the behavior is common and a reasonable person would find it offensive, you likely have a claim for race discrimination.

An experienced employment discrimination lawyer can help you to determine if you are the victim of racial discrimination and can represent you in obtaining compensation for wrongful behavior.  Contact Richard Celler Legal, P.A. for help making a discrimination claim.

To learn more, please download our free National Origin Employment Discrimination in Florida here.