Michigan's Leading Discrimination Attorney: Promoting Equality Across All Races, Nationalities & Beliefs
Your civil rights are equally protected on the job as they are anywhere else, and they cannot be denied to you. Discrimination takes many forms, all of which must be opposed if we are to uphold equal opportunity. As an experienced civil rights law firm, Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers understands just how widespread bias is in the workplace. From race to nationality to height to gender to religious beliefs or lack thereof, employers may discriminate against virtually any part of your identity. Our legal team pushes back against these biases, allowing you to succeed at work no matter your background.
Royal Oak Law Firm Experienced in Racial, Religious & National Origin Discrimination
Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers has long challenged discriminatory employers. We recognize and oppose the many different forms that discrimination can take. The U.S. Civil Rights Acts and the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act protect workers from these and a range of other discriminatory acts and conditions. They include:
- Segregating or assigning workers based on race or skin color
- Tolerating or engaging in harassment based on race, color or national origin, including ethnic jokes, racial slurs or any unwelcome verbal or physical behavior that creates a hostile and intimidating environment
- Imposing seemingly neutral requirements for jobs, such as height, which disparately and negatively impact groups such as Hispanics or women
- Assigning or limiting a minority employee to a sales or geographical territory because it has a high minority population
- Failing to make reasonable accommodations for employees who wish to observe religious holidays, wear religious clothing or observe other religious practices
- Making an adverse employment decision about an employee or applicant based on his or her accent
- Making decisions about an employee based on the race or national origin of the employee’s associates, spouse or friends
- Punishing, terminating or retaliating against workers because they have complained of discriminatory treatment or filed a lawsuit or initiated other related actions
Besides recognizing how widespread and varied workplace bias is, we understand how subtle it can be. Employers rarely admit that they are making decisions based on prejudice, and may not even be aware of it themselves. Our team knows how to find evidence of even the subtlest forms of discrimination, making a solid case that your rights have been violated.
What Michigan Laws Protect Against Religious Discrimination?
Given our state’s diverse background, Michigan has laws specifically designed to prevent religious discrimination. Chief among these is the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which defines in detail what is considered religious discrimination. Such discrimination includes not only firing, refusing to hire, or failing to promote people based on religion, but also inquiring about an employee’s religious beliefs, expressing preferences for or against members of certain religious groups or classifying employees because of religion. Because the law specifically says that employers cannot discriminate “based on religion,” it implies that discrimination against atheists, agnostics and other non-believers is also not permitted.
What to Do if Your Rights Have Been Violated
If you experience discrimination based on race, nationality or religious beliefs (if any), your first step should be to gather all the evidence you can of bias. You may choose to complain about it directly to your employer; if so, pay attention to how they react and document any signs of retaliation.