What is race discrimination?
Race discrimination occurs when an employee has been treated unfairly, harmed, harassed, or subjected to a hostile work environment on account of race, color, or ethnicity. In addition, an employee cannot be discriminated against if they are married to or associate with a person of a different race, or belong to an ethnic-based group or association. Examples include: if you are white and treated differently because you are married to a black person, or you attend a historically black college or place of worship identified with a particular minority group. Many times, discrimination because of nationality may also be race discrimination.
An employer commits racial discrimination when it makes job decisions on the basis of race, or even when it adopts neutral job policies that disproportionately affect members of a particular race. Federal and state laws forbid race discrimination in every aspect of the employment relationship, including hiring, firing, promotions, compensation, job training, or any other term or condition of employment. For example, an employer discriminates when it refuses to hire Latinos, promotes only white employees to supervisory positions, requires only African-American job applicants to take a drug test, or refuses to allow Asian-American employees to deal with customers. An employer that discriminates on the basis of physical characteristics associated with a particular race — such as hair texture or color, skin color, or facial features — also commits race discrimination. Even employment policies or criteria that seem neutral may be discriminatory if they have a disproportionate impact on me
