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Is your company trying to hide discrimination?

On Behalf of | Jun 2, 2022 | Employment Law |

The company you work for is not supposed to discriminate against any employees. Every employer should be well aware of this fact.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that every employer doesn’t want to discriminate in some fashion. There may be a financial incentive to do so, for instance, and they may only care about the bottom line. As a result, they’ll try to hide that discrimination. Here are a few ways they may do it.

Saying they have to make layoffs

One way that this sometimes happens is when the employer announces that they have to make a round of layoffs. They say that they don’t want to let anyone go, but they are simply not profitable enough. However, when you look around, it’s clear that they’re only laying off workers within one protected class. Maybe they’re firing all the workers who are minorities, for instance, or they’re firing all the female workers and keeping the male workers.

Saying the job is being eliminated

Another tactic is to say that a person’s job is being eliminated entirely. This scheme is often focused on older workers. These workers are supposed to be protected from discrimination, so the employer will say that they’re not being fired at all. The job is just being eliminated and so they no longer need anyone to do it. But then, a few months later, the employer will invent a brand new position and hire a younger worker. It will become apparent that the new position is the same as the one that was “eliminated.”

Setting a retirement age

Some employers try to skirt this rule by picking an age and saying that employees have to retire by that time. They will then claim that they are not firing these employees or terminating their position. The employees are choosing to retire. But is a mandatory retirement age really a choice?

What options do you have?

If you have faced this type of discrimination and you believe your rights have been violated, you need to know as much as you can about your legal options.