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ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE MOST COMMON FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION

Posted March 28, 2019 by Doug Mann & filed under Employment Law.

YOUR GUIDE TO HARASSMENT

Harassment shouldn’t be acceptable no matter where you work. Sometimes harassment can be
hard to spot but calling it out is for the benefit of everyone. Learn about the most common forms
and what to do when you see it.
Your Guide to Harassment
What is Workplace Discrimination?
In theory, both the legal system and the American Constitution have been created with the idea
that all persons are deserving of equal treatment under the eyes of the law, as well as in the eyes of
businesses that employ people. In reality, sadly, this is not always the case, even though America
is a country of many different people from different countries, races, faiths, and sexual
orientations. Our culture and workplaces are legally defined as celebrating and protecting these
differences, but sometimes, employers don’t agree with the spirit of the law. Sometimes, the
people in charge may have prejudices, biases, or other discriminatory attitudes, but they are in a
position to act on those attitudes of discrimination. However, to do so is illegal, and victims of this
kind of workplace discrimination should not simply accept it. Your rights have been violated by
ways of thinking and policies that run counter to the spirit of America, and there are legal
consequences for the people who disregard the rights of others.
The Most Common Forms of Workplace Discrimination

How to Spot Discrimination in the Workplace

There are many types of workplace discrimination that can occur in the workplace, so we’re going
to cover some of the most common forms of discrimination.
Retaliation Discrimination
Racial Discrimination
Disability Discrimination
Sexual Discrimination
Age Discrimination

1. RETALIATION DISCRIMINATION – THE MOST COMMON TYPE OF DISCRIMINATION

Retaliation discrimination is, by far, the most common type of discrimination in the workplace,
and it goes across all boundaries of race, religion, gender, and other areas. The heart of this most
common type of discrimination is that you’ve done something that the employer doesn’t like but is
perfectly legal and considered a protected action. However, you have been punished for your
actions anyway, most commonly with wrongful termination.

Retaliation discrimination is usually the result of employees having lawfully reported improper
work practices. For example, when a female employee is being harassed and reports the activity to
human resources or goes beyond the workplace to report the event to other workplace protection
organizations. The woman may then get fired, either citing no reason or unrelated reasons such as
“not being a team player.”

Another example is people who attempt to negotiate for better pay or a safer work environment,
who have made lawful, legal complaints, but are terminated, often as a “message” to other
employees to fall in line. If you are doing your job and are fired simply for doing something
management doesn’t like, even though it’s legal, that is retaliation discrimination. If you have
experienced this form of discrimination you are far from alone as it is the most common type of
discrimination.

2. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION / RACISM

Despite America being a land of immigrants, race-based discrimination is still one of the most
common forms of bias. It may make itself known even before you get a job. In the hiring process,
some unscrupulous decision makers will reject applicants based strictly on race.

On the job, racial discrimination in the office can take many forms, both subtle and not.
Sometimes the prejudice is very obvious. If only the white employees are getting raises and all the
employees that are people of color are not, a simple explanation of “None of you deserve it” is
statistically unlikely. On the other hand, the discrimination may be more subtle, such as special
employee treatment or events only for employees of a particular ethnicity, while the others are
excluded and never even invited.

DISTURBING STATS IN 2019

African and Asian Americans report 76% have experienced discrimination

58% of Hispanics say they dealt with discrimination
67% of whites say they have never dealt with discrimination
The most surprising racial discrimination statistics: Racial discrimination is reported at a higher
rate for those with higher education, stating that, “people have acted as if they were suspicious of
them or as if they thought they weren’t smart”.
MORE ON RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

We covered more on racial discrimination and it’s effects on the workplace in 2019 in one of our
recent guides.

Race Discrimination in the Workplace

Learn More About Racial Discrimination in 2019
3. DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
Some people may be surprised to read this as the third most common form of discrimination out of
the many types of workplace discrimination due to a mistaken belief that this type of
discrimination doesn’t exist at all. Sadly, the fact is that many people who are fully qualified to do
a job are not hired or are even poorly treated in the workplace because of disabilities that do not
impact their ability to do a job. However, their employment may interfere with accessibility issues
that management doesn’t want to deal with.

For example, if you look around your place of work and see no one in a wheelchair, that may not
be because, as you believed, no one using a wheelchair was qualified to work there. Instead, it
may be because management does not want to have—or pay for—the ramps, toilet facilities, and
other types of infrastructure that would need to accommodate an employee with different needs.
So, they simply refuse to hire anyone with that disability. And even the people who are hired and
have a disability may be treated differently or outright poorly, compared to other employees. They
may be denied raises, excluded from activities, or even the butt of jokes and insults.

4. SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION / SEXISM

Sexual discrimination is something many people are familiar with. This type of discrimination in
the workplace is not as visible or socially approved as it once was, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone
away. Female employees can still be harassed in the 21st century, and frequently are. Added to this
now is harassment or wrongful termination of members of the LGBT community. The frequency
of workplace reports and news articles on these subjects makes it clear that sexual discrimination
in the workplace is, unfortunately, still an issue that needs to be dealt with.

Of all types of workplace discrimination, this takes many forms, from a hostile working
environment to exclusionary work practices, and sometimes even illegal activities such as assault.
Employees who are treated, based on gender or sexual orientation, in a lesser or condescending
manner, passed over for promotion, or even forced to take on extra, unrelated activities in addition
to their job, such as serving drinks and meals, doing “housework” around the office, or even
tolerating sexual propositions are all common, well-documented examples of this type of
discrimination.

5. AGE DISCRIMINATION / AGEISM

With the boom in tech companies ageism became more of present form of discrimination as
companies started to look for younger faces in their company and faze out older employees
through discriminatory practices. Although ageism has become something we are more aware of
now than ever before, it is nothing new for a company to force employees toward retirement or not
hiring an older worker because they want a “young vibe” or “fresh faces”.

THE 10 TYPES OF HARASSMENT THAT OCCUR IN THE WORKPLACE

When there is discrimination there is most likely also harassment. There are 10 types of
harassment that you might see at the workplace. Harassment based on discrimination is
unfortunately, the most common.

workplace harassment
Learn More About Harassment
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO NEXT

FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS

Victims of any of the various types of workplace discrimination mentioned above should not
merely accept this treatment. Not only is it a violation of your rights, but allowing these practices
to continue at a workplace will create the same toxic environment for others in the future. If you
think that you or a person you know has been a victim of discrimination in the workplace, you
must seek professional, legal advice from an attorney, and see if this is something you want to
develop into a lawsuit.

Doug Mann
Prior to forming Dyer, Garofalo, Mann & Schultz, Doug worked as a bodily injury claims adjuster
for a large insurance company. This unique experience has been a tremendous asset to Doug in his
fight to achieve maximum cash settlements for his clients in minimum time. Since departing from
the insurance company, Doug has dedicated his entire legal career to helping injured clients when
they need it the most.

Tags: disability discrimination, most common types of discrimination, racial discrimination,

retaliation discrimination, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, various forms of
discrimination, workplace discrimination, workplace harassment, wrongful termination

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