Best Ohio Race Discrimination Lawyer Reply: Can I be treated worse than white coworkers by my boss? Is my white manger allowed to single me out because I’m black? Is it wrongful termination if I was fired today after complaining to HR about racial discrimination by my supervisor?
TV in the 90’s was pretty special. One of my favorite programs starred William Shatner. The 1990s? Shatner? That’s right. After Captain Kirk and T.J. Hooker, but before Denny Crane on Boston Legal, Shatner hosted one the most memorable TV shows from the 90’s – Rescue 911. Full of real life daring and dramatic rescues, actual footage of recorded 911 calls, and less than stellar “reenactments” the show had everything. Even the opening theme was classic. One of the great things about the show was that it brought awareness to dialing 911 in emergencies and also showcased excellent examples of first responders at their best.
Rescue 911 exemplified just how tough and rewarding a career as a Paramedic could be. With all the drama paramedics face on a daily basis these hardworking employees truly deserve to be treated fairly by their bosses and supervisors when it comes to training, discipline, and key employment decisions. As our employment discrimination attorneys blogged about before, race should never be a factor in those decisions. (See Can My Job Race Discriminate Based On Customer Requests?; How Do I Prove Race Discrimination Against My Job?; Does The Law Prohibit Black On Black Race Discrimination?; and Race Discrimination Lawyer: What Is Reverse Discrimination?). Beyond just being wrong and unfair, race discrimination is blatantly illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Ohio’s R.C. § 4112.02(A). This means that employers will be held liable for employment discrimination if their bosses, managers or supervisors make hiring or firing decision based on an employee’s race. Plainly stated, firing an employee because the employee is Black or African American will be a wrongful termination.
But, these employment discrimination laws provide broader protections than just making race discrimination illegal. As our employment law lawyers have also written about, your boss or manager cannot take any adverse action against you for reporting race discrimination. (See What If I Was Fired After I Reported Race Discrimination?; Fired For Reporting Discrimination? – Call The Right Attorney; and Who Can I Sue For Retaliation At Work?).
This law applies to paramedics, who, like all other employees, should be able to complain – without fear of retaliation – if they think they’ve experienced unlawful discrimination.
One St. Louis paramedic recently recovered $50,000 after a jury unanimously found that her supervisor retaliated against her for filing a grievance complaining of race discrimination. After African American paramedic Laticha Green was told that her probationary period was being extended but two of her white coworkers were not subject to the same extension, she filed a grievance about disparate treatment based on race. To make matters worse, one of the white paramedics moving out of the probation period was the niece of Green’s supervisor.
Green’s supervisor, Steve Kotraba, then threatened Green after finding out about her grievance. In court documents, Green told the court that Kotraba was loud and verbally aggressive toward her in a meeting and told her that he could discipline her for “insubordination” as a direct result of her grievance. Given that the boss directly pointed to the protected activity of reporting race discrimination, the retaliation claim was incredibly strong. As is often the case, employers make a problematic situation worse by retaliating against an employee. Proving retaliation is often easier than proving the underlying race discrimination case. For this reason, it is important for employees that are facing race or other forms of employment discrimination at work to document complaints to HR or higher level managers.
Even though Laticha lives in Missouri, employees in Ohio have similar protection from race discrimination and retaliation based on federal and state law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Ohio Revised Code § 4112.02(A) are in place to protect employees in Ohio from being treated differently based on race. Ohio laws make it an unlawful discriminatory practice for any employer to “discharge without just cause, to refuse to hire, or otherwise to discriminate against that person with respect to hire, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, or any matter directly or indirectly related to employment” based on race or age.
If you feel that you are being discriminated based on your race, whatever race that may be, then call the right attorney. Race discrimination includes being harassed, fired, wrongfully terminated, discriminated against, demoted, wrongfully disciplined, and denied wages. When you call the right attorney to schedule a free and confidential consultation at 866-797-6040, you will meet with a race discrimination lawyer from Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm who will help you determine the best way to pursue your legal claims.
Disclaimer:
The materials available at the top of this race discrimination page and on this employment law website are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. If you are still asking: “What should I do …”, “I’m being discriminated against …”, “my boss is discriminating against me because …” or “How do I …”, your best option is to contact an Ohio attorney to obtain advice with respect to race discrimination questions or any particular employment law issue. Use and access to this employment law website or any of the links contained within the site do not create an attorney-client relationship. The legal opinions expressed at or through this site are the opinions of the individual lawyer and may not reflect the opinions of Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, attorney Brian Spitz, or any individual attorney.