If you have been treated unfairly at work, denied a promotion, suspended, or fired because of any of the following factors, you may have a claim for employment discrimination:

• race/color/national origin
• sex
• religion
• age (if over 40)
• disability, perceived disability, or record of having been disabled (as long as you are still able to do your job with reasonable accommodations)

It is also unlawful for an employer to take action against any employee for making a good faith complaint about any of the above categories or speaking on behalf of a co-worker who was discriminated against for one of those reasons. Firing or disciplining an employee for complaining about unlawful discrimination is called retaliation and is prohibited by law. However, the complaint must specifically mention the legal factor (i.e. race, religion, etc.). If an employee merely complains that something was "unfair" without specifically stating that it was due to one of those legal factors, then they will not have a claim for retaliation.

There are also other laws which protect worker's rights such as the Family and Medical Leave Act which allows up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off from work for certain workers under certain circumstances. Workers are also protected by the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law which regulates how and when an employer must pay their employees. Employers frequently fail to understand their responsibility under these laws and fail to follow them properly.

An employee who is discriminated or retaliated against by their employer must file a formal complaint of discrimination with the appropriate government agency within a short window of time after the wrongful act; 180 days for state law claims and 300 days for claims under federal law. Employees who fail to make a charge of discrimination within this time frame can lose their right to pursue their claims. The wording of the government discrimination complaint must include all of the legal reasons that support your case. If one is left out, you will lose your right to pursue that portion of your case.

Unlike most kinds of cases, a plaintiff in an employment case must not only prove what happened, but why it happened, meaning what the person who made the decision to fire them was thinking when they did it. Frequently, the best way to prove a violation of the law is to prove how the employer treated you differently than the other similar employees who were not of the same race, sex, religion, age or disability status. Employers rarely admit that they fired a person because of their race, sex or other prohibited factors, but the way they speak to an employee can be used as evidence of discrimination. For example making racial or sexist jokes or comments at work or making generalizations about what older or disabled employees can or cannot do, instead of looking at the employee fairly as an individual, ,can be evidence of discrimination.

In addition to employment discrimination matters, we can also assist you if you believe that you have been unfairly denied unemployment compensation after you lost your job.

If you believe that you have been fired or treated unfairly at work due to your race, age, sex, religion or disability, please call Silver and Silver for a free consultation with our attorneys.