Today, we believe, we live in a world that is structurally constructed on the basis of specific rights for humans. However, a deeper introspection can help in realizing that these rights largely serve superficially, thus bringing in paradoxical assertions. While considering workplace, we do have an idea of how discrimination looks like. Many well-known problems such as gender pay gaps, sexual harassment stem through such discrimination. But there are other forms of discrimination that people are unaware. There are times where people are blinded into situations and are not aware of their legal positions.

 Unlawful discrimination would basically attribute itself to treating someone less favorably than others on the basis of certain personal mind-space. The most commonly protected characteristics are as follows –

It is unlawful to treat someone less favorably than others, on any of the above points. This includes how people are treated in the workplace, from the stage of  job application, to or even after their employment has ended. It is also unfair to treat workers less favorably due to their job role , status of job – full time part time , vendor partners. These discrimination practices can be majorly classified as direct and indirect discrimination.

Direct discrimination involves treating someone badly or unfairly because they imbibe one of the protected characteristics. In some cases, it is sufficient for the person discriminating to perceive other as having a protected characteristic, regardless of whether he actually has it or not – in order to perform discriminatory conduct. For example, if someone is turned down for a job because the interviewer believed he was a gay, it would amount to unlawful direct discrimination even if the interviewee weren’t gay. Similarly, someone can also be directly discriminated because they believe a protected characteristic is connected.

Indirect Discrimination is less obvious and more difficult to assess and identify. It focuses on the effect of the discriminator’s action than on the characteristics of the person towards whom the action is conducted. For example, some organizations have a bonus system intended to reward good attendance. However, it is unfair if the organizations make no allowance for maternity leave or for differently abled people for their time off.

California regulators recently sued a leading IT and networking solution provider firm for discriminating against an Indian American employee who was harassed by two managers because he was from a lower Indian caste than them. In 2016, the employee had reported to the HR his manager’s action of outing his caste to colleagues. The company inherently determined that caste discrimination was not illegal and issues continued for many years. According to the lawsuit, the company reassigned employee’s duties, isolation from colleagues, rejected a raise and promotional opportunities. The company, however hasn’t provided further statements in public about the same.

Unlike many types of workplace claims, in cases of discrimination, there is no limit on compensation that can be awarded – in some extreme cases compensation run into millions of dollars. Once can be compensated for financial losses suffered or any injury to emotional self. However, it is extremely important to bring the unlawful discrimination claim to the governing body. In fact there is no minimum period of employment that needs to be justified. This can occur even when a candidate has been rejected for a job application basis strong discriminatory action.

From organization’s point of view, companies must accept in-discriminatory practices at a systemic level — addressing everything from structural and social mechanics to the role each employee plays in the ecosystem at large. Human resource department must introspect and try out proven ways to improve recruitment, retainment practices thus interrupting bias across designations. This will ensure the rights of each human right stays safe and is addressed not just within the organization but outside as well.