Examples of Workplace Discrimination

While some forms of harassment are harder to notice, other examples of workplace discrimination are easier to spot. With this in mind, we wanted to detail specific examples of possible workplace discrimination.

Laughter is Cheap – But Workplace Discrimination Lawsuits are Expensive

This example involves an Asian man in a predominantly white workplace. The CEO often held meetings with his middle managers with the door open to his office. Everyone in the office heard racially insensitive jokes. All minorities were targeted during these weekly “meetings” that sounded more like a inappropriate conversation meant for an after work beer.

The Asian male eventually became disgruntled due to the disgusting nature of the jokes and spoke up to the CEO in a private meeting. The following weekly meetings with the middle managers were held with the doors closed. However, a month later the Asian man was fired for bad performance.

The Asian male recorded the meetings, including his complaint and had detailed all his performance before being fired. This is an example of retaliation for engaging in the protected activity of making a complaint of hostile work environment based on race. Having a record of his complaint along with proof that the employers reason for discharge was pretext (not true) strengthens the Plaintiffs case.

Age is Only a Number

A high-level manager was heard saying, “We need a fresh approach around here,” after quarterly reviews. In the next few months, multiple older employees were fired. Every one of these employees was over the age of 50, and each employee had performance that was more than satisfactory for their position and office. Younger employees were retained even though their performance review scores were lower than the terminated employees.

This would be possible examples of workplace discrimination based on age.