When people are in the job market in California, they are afforded several different protections from discrimination by law. It does not matter whether they have a job or are merely searching for a position. The law does not allow employers to give a current or prospective employee different treatment based on a number of different factors.
One forbidden form of disparate treatment is national origin discrimination. An employer may not treat someone differently based on the country where he or she is from or even where they think that person was born. They may also not discriminate based on the national origin of one’s spouse. This protection extends to every single aspect of employment, including pay, promotions and hiring decisions.
This form of discrimination also extends to the workplace environment. Employees cannot be harassed or bullied based on their national origin. While not every joke would be considered actionable discrimination, if the workplace environment became intolerable due to the treatment that a person is receiving, it may cross the line. It does not matter who is doing the harassing. It does not have to be a supervisor who is making the jokes. If the fellow workers have created an inhospitable workplace environment, it could also be discrimination. If someone files a complaint, his or her employer may not retaliate against him or her for exercising his or her rights.
If someone believes that he or she has been discriminated against while either looking for a job or while working, that individual may be able to file a lawsuit against his or her employer. This type of conduct is illegal, and an employer can be made to pay for it. Victims of harassment should contact an employment law attorney to discuss their legal rights and how they would go about taking action against the employers who discriminated against them.