Although people sometimes act like society has evolved to the point where discrimination is no longer a thing, employment discrimination still happens quite often in Texas. If you believe you have been the victim of such discrimination, it is good to understand exactly what counts as employment discrimination in Texas.
Forms of employment discrimination
Employment discrimination can take a number of different forms. These can include but are not limited to:
- sexual harassment
- age discrimination
- racial discrimination
- gender discrimination
- sexual orientation discrimination
- religious discrimination
- disability discrimination
- unequal pay
- workplace retaliation
- workplace violence
In some cases, the discrimination may feel overt, such as with sexual harassment. In other cases, it may be less evident as is the case with workplace disability discrimination. The lack of an elevator or a wheelchair ramp is illegal under the law, but many employers may be oblivious to that fact. Similarly, subtle discrimination, such as giving more work to nondisabled employees despite merit or their quality of work may also be illegal.
Contributing factors
Unfortunately, certain workplaces are prone to different forms of workplace discrimination. The healthcare industry, for example, often deals with issues such as racism and violence in the workplace. Solving these issues also requires understanding the contributing factors that help create such a toxic work environment in the first place. These can include
- lack of training
- inadequate human resources department
- lack of employee supervision
- inadequate hiring processes
- lack of record keeping
- language barriers
- favoritism
- poor management style
- lack of discipline systems
Overall, these and other factors could certainly lead to any workplace being threatened by workplace discrimination lawsuits. Workplace discrimination can be horrible for workers or even dangerous in many situations. It is important for employers to stop it from occurring at all levels within a company.