What is employment discrimination?

Illegal employment discrimination under state and federal law is discrimination based on your race, color, national origin, religion, age or sex.

In addition, it is now unlawful for most employers to discriminate against any qualified individual with a disability because of the disability. A qualified individual with a disability is an individual with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person with a record of such impairment or a person who is regarded as having such an impairment. Major life activities include caring for oneself, seeing, hearing, learning or working.

An employer must provide reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified individual unless it can show that the accommodation would create an undue hardship on the employer's business requiring significant difficulty or expense.

It is also unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee in retaliation for the employee exercising his or her rights under the discrimination or workers' compensation laws or for opposing or reporting any unlawful action on the part of the employer.

What constitutes sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment can be defined as unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that creates an objectively intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment. Examples of sexual harassment are sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment also occurs when tangible job benefits such as promotions or pay raises are conditioned on an employee's submission to conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment charges are decided on a case-by-case basis, considering all the circumstances, including the nature of the alleged act and the context in which it occurred.

When can I be fired?

Unless you are protected by an employment contract, you probably can be fired at any time for any reason except for a reason prohibited by law. Generally, the reasons prohibited by law would include being fired because of your race, religion, national origin, sex, age or, in some circumstances, your disability. It would also be illegal for you to be fired in retaliation for exercising your rights under the discrimination or workers' compensation laws or because you opposed or reported illegal conduct by your employer or coworkers.

What time limits apply?

The time limits for bringing charges for discrimination are very short. These charges must be filed with the EEOC or the State Human Rights Commission. The time for filing charges can be as short as 180 days from the date of the discriminatory act. Therefore, time is of the essence with regard to discrimination claims.