Race Discrimination Attorneys in Florida

Last updated on June 13, 2024

If you have been terminated, demoted or disciplined at work on the basis of your race, color or national origin, our experienced race discrimination attorneys at the Law Office of William M. Julien, P.A., can analyze the facts of your situation and advise you of your rights under state and federal laws. Since 2002, our firm has been fighting for employees throughout Florida in employment disputes, and our lawyers bring decades of legal experience to each case and client.

What Race-Based Harassment And Discrimination Look Like

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that harassment based on race is a form of workplace discrimination. Unfortunately, employers have become more sophisticated in their attempts to hide these practices and policies. Proving discrimination is more difficult today than it was a generation ago. Therefore, an experienced employment law attorney will need to carefully review the circumstances and investigate beneath the surface of everyday activities in order to reveal a general environment that promotes or allows discriminatory practices.

We represent victims of job-related racial discrimination with claims such as the following:

• Denial of promotion
• Unfair treatment in pay, benefits or working conditions
• Retaliation for reporting racial discrimination or supporting the claim of another employee
• Wrongful discharge
• Offensive racial jokes or epithets
• Discrimination in layoffs or downsizing
• Harassment or stalking
• Workplace violence

Our ability to investigate your workplace discrimination claim can expose the pretextual nature of the employer’s “official” reason for your termination or otherwise unfair treatment. When necessary, we even retain investigative and technical experts to perform a statistical analysis of your company’s hiring, promotion, discipline or termination practices in order to prove the fact of racial discrimination in your case.

Does It Matter Who Did The Discriminating?

Your employer can be held accountable for racial discrimination even if the person discriminating against you was not your superior. In fact, as long as your employer knew about the discrimination and did not adequately address it, the employer can be held accountable for a co-worker’s or customer’s discriminating behavior.

Your employer can also be held accountable if they retaliate against you for reporting racial discrimination .

Racial Discrimination During The Hiring Process

Florida state and federal employment laws not only protect current employees from racial discrimination, but they also protect applicants and potential applicants from discrimination during all phases of the hiring process. If you have been subjected to racial discrimination during the hiring process, you need to understand what your rights are under the law and what options you have to protect those rights.

While it can be difficult to prove that racial discrimination has happened during the hiring process, it still occurs, and those who have been harmed by discrimination are protected under the law. By speaking with witnesses, reviewing facts and looking at the company’s history, we can often build a case that explicitly shows how discrimination took place.

Key Facts About Racial Discrimination In The Workplace

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race or color. It is illegal for employers to make decisions about hiring, firing, promotions, pay or job conditions based on an individual’s race.

Racial discrimination can take many forms, including:

• Only recruiting from sources with mostly one racial group
• Having unnecessary job requirements that disproportionately exclude certain races
• Paying different wages or giving unequal benefits based on race
• Segregating employees by race or assigning certain races to particular roles
• Allowing racial harassment that creates a hostile work environment

Even policies that appear neutral may be discriminatory if they have a disproportionate impact on certain racial groups without being job-related and necessary for business. As much as employers should carefully examine their policies, practices and workplace culture to help identify and prevent racial bias or discrimination, some may still ignore this legal requirement. Therefore, if you are an employee experiencing racial discrimination, you should promptly seek legal action.

Proving Workplace Race Discrimination

To win a race discrimination case, you will need to prove that your employer intentionally discriminated against you. This can be challenging, as employers rarely admit to discriminatory motives. However, you can build a case using circumstantial evidence like:

• Disparate treatment showing that you were treated less favorably than colleagues of other races despite having similar qualifications and performance.
• Statistical evidence proving a pattern of discrimination within the company, like a lack of minorities in leadership positions.
• Racial comments or slurs showing that you were subjected to offensive comments or jokes about your race.
• Unequal application of workplace policies indicating you were disciplined more harshly than colleagues of other races for similar offenses.

Even though there are legal actions to take as a victim of workplace racial discrimination, it is crucial to take immediate steps with the guidance of a lawyer. From there, we can pursue the case to assist you in filing a charge and advise you on your legal rights to build a strong case.

Talk To An Race Discrimination Attorney About Your Case For Free

At the Law Office of William M. Julien, P.A., we never charge for a consultation, and we invite you to call us even if you’re having trouble with an unemployment benefits application. While evaluating those cases, we often discover cases of race discrimination or other violations of employee rights. To learn more about your legal options, call our office in Boynton Beach or contact us online.