Despite advances made since the 1960s, people of color continue to be confronted with situations of discrimination at their jobs. Rather than the overt discrimination that occurred frequently many years ago, today’s discrimination faced by workers in California and around the country is often more hidden and insidious.
A poll conducted by CNN and the Kaiser Family Foundation demonstrates the extent of the problem. Nearly 70 percent of African-American respondents reported that discrimination posed both a past and present issue for them, while 57 percent of Hispanics also agreed. Of those two groups, 26 percent of African-American respondents reported experiencing workplace discrimination within the past month, while 15 percent of Hispanic respondents reported the same.
Minority women reported additional issues, based on a combination of both their race as well as their gender. Among Asian women, 41 percent reported feeling pressured by their employers to behave in manners that were more feminine. Hispanic respondents reported being subjected to stereotypes of Latinas as being emotional, hot-tempered and aggressive, with 60 percent also reporting facing negative actions when their behavior was deemed not deferential enough.
These more implicit types of discrimination are more difficult to tackle, as they are often also difficult to prove. When people are discriminated against at work on the basis of their skin color, national origin or gender, their civil rights have been violated. While complaints may be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about workplace discrimination, there are strict deadlines that must be followed. People who wait too long risk being prevented from ever being able to seek recompense for the harms they have suffered. Those who have suffered from workplace discrimination along with corresponding negative job impacts may want to seek the advice and counsel of an employment law attorney in order that the process can proceed in an expeditious manner.