Employment Discrimination and Retaliation

Unlawful Termination

Federal and state laws protect employees from employment discrimination based on a wide variety of factors: race discrimination, gender discrimination, age discrimination, ethnic origin discrimination, religious discrimination, disability discrimination, and handicap discrimination. Also at both levels, employees are protected from retaliation for asserting protected rights. Employees are also protected from being punished for using other legal remedies available to them in the workplace, such as Workers Compensation and the Family and Medical Leave Act. In addition, Ohio common law recognizes that some discharges from employment may be unlawful violations of public policy that is expressed in other state or federal laws. For instance, a retailer could not properly fire a bookkeeper for seeking to remit sales tax on goods sold. A contractor could not legally discharge a supervisor for trying to prevent a repeated violation of a specific safety requirement.

Discrimination Short of Discharge

Unlawful discrimination not only takes the form of termination from employment, but short of that, can also create a hostile working environment. Discrimination can lurk beneath other negative employment actions such as discipline, unequal pay, and inferior working conditions; and can cause the employer’s denial of employment or of advancement, increased compensation, or other benefits.

Retaliation

Both state and federal law also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for the exercise, or attempted exercise of protected rights. If you have suffered employer reprisals for asserting protected rights in the workplace, you may have a separate retaliation claim.

If you believe you have been discriminated against or retaliated against in the workplace please call Ben Gray
at 216-579-0800.