Miami Employment Law Attorneys | Florida Employment Discrimination Lawyers

Employment Discrimination

What laws protect rights against discrimination?

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Florida Civil Rights Act, it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, disability, or age in any aspect of employment, including hiring and firing, payment of wages, classification of employees, job duty transfer, promotion, layoff, recruitment, testing, training, benefits, retirement plans, disability leave, or many other terms and conditions of employment.

Discriminatory practices under these laws also include any harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age and any retaliation against an individual for filing a charge of discrimination, participating in an investigation, or opposing discriminatory practices. Also, these employment laws protect from illegal employment decisions based on stereotypes about the abilities or performance of individuals of a certain sex, race, age, religion, or national origin, or individuals with disabilities. These employment laws also protect employees from being denied employment opportunities because of marriage to an individual of a particular race, religion, national origin, or disability. The laws prohibit discrimination because of participation in schools or places of worship associated with a particular racial, ethnic, or religious group.

If you have any questions about employment discrimination, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form

What laws provide rights to minimum wages and overtime compensation?

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act sets the federal minimum wage and provides nonexempt employees with the right to overtime compensation. The Florida Constitution was recently amended to raise the minimum wage in Florida. The majority of employees are either paid on an hourly basis for each hour they work or are paid a fixed salary regardless of the number of hours worked. The majority of those employees paid on an hourly basis must be paid time and one half (overtime) for any hours worked over forty (40) in a seven day workweek. Some employees who receive a salary may be entitled to overtime because their employers have misclassified them as being exempt from overtime. An employee paid a salary may be entitled to overtime compensation.

If you have any questions about minimum wages and overtime compensation, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form

Age Discrimination

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. The ADEA's protections apply to both employees and job applicants. Under the ADEA, it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because of his or her age with respect to any privilege of employment (hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, or training).
Also, the ADEA prohibits retaliation against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on age (filing an age discrimination charge, testifying about age discrimination, or participating in an ADEA proceeding).
The ADEA applies to employers with 20 or more employees, including state and local government, agencies and labor organizations. The ADEA generally makes it unlawful to include age preferences in job notices or advertisements. The ADEA does not specifically prohibit an employer from asking an applicant's age or date of birth. However, these requests for age information will be closely scrutinized to make sure that the inquiry was made for a lawful purpose, rather than for a purpose prohibited by the ADEA.

Gender Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals in hiring for firing decisions and other terms of employment because of their gender (male or female). Title VII covers employers with 15 or more employees.

Employers may not treat employees or applicants more or less favorably because of their gender. An employer may not refuse to hire individuals of a certain gender, may not impose stricter promotion requirements for persons of a certain gender, and may not impose more or different work requirements on an employee because of that employee's gender.

An employer cannot retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on gender (filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in a proceeding under Title VII ). (Participation means taking part in an employment discrimination proceeding. Participation is protected activity even if the proceeding involved claims that ultimately were found to be invalid).

If you have any questions about Gender Discrimination, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form

An employer cannot retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on Age (filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in a proceeding under the ADEA). (Participation means taking part in an employment discrimination proceeding. Participation is protected activity even if the proceeding involved claims that ultimately were found to be invalid).

If you have any questions about Age Discrimination, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form

Disability Discrimination

Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits private employers, state and local governments, employment agencies and labor unions from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms of employment. The ADA covers employers with 15 or more employees.

An individual with a disability is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities and has a record of the impairment.
A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is an individual who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job in question.

A reasonable accommodation for an employee with a disability may include making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, job restructuring, modifying work schedules, modifying equipment/devices/examinations, and providing qualified readers or interpreters.

An employer is required to make a reasonable accommodation to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee, if the accommodation does not impose an "undue hardship" on the operation of the employer's business. Undue hardship is defined as an action requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of factors such as an employer's size, financial resources, and the nature and structure of its operation. An employer is not required to lower quality or production standards to make an accommodation for a disabled employee. Also, an employer is not obligated to provide personal use items such as glasses or hearing aids. Under the ADA, employers may not ask job applicants about the existence, nature, or severity of a disability. However, applicants may be asked about their ability to perform specific job functions and a job offer may be conditioned on the results of a medical examination (if the examination is required for all entering employees in similar jobs, job related, and consistent with the business needs of the employer).

An employer cannot retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on a disability (filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in a proceeding under the ADA ). (Participation means taking part in an employment discrimination proceeding. Participation is protected activity even if the proceeding involved claims that ultimately were found to be invalid).

If you have any questions about Disability Discrimination, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form

Equal Pay and Wage Discrimination

The right of employees to be free from discrimination in their wages is protected under several federal laws including the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, the ADEA, and ADA and enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The Equal Pay Act (EPA) requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same establishment (An establishment is a distinct physical place of business rather than an entire business or enterprise consisting of several places of business). The men and women employees’ jobs need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal (job duties, not title of the position, determines whether jobs are substantially equal).

Specifically, the EPA provides that employers may not pay unequal wages to men and women who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility, and that are performed under similar working conditions within the same establishment.

Pay discrepancies are permitted when the pay rates are based on a factor other than gender such as seniority, merit, or quantity or quality of production.

Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA prohibit wage discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability.

An employer cannot retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on unequal pay (filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in a proceeding under the EPA). (Participation means taking part in an employment discrimination proceeding. Participation is protected activity even if the proceeding involved claims that ultimately were found to be invalid).

If you have any questions about Equal Pay Discrimination, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form

National Origin Discrimination

Whether an employee or job applicant's national origin is Cuban, Haitian, Mexican, or any other nationality, the employee is entitled to the same employment opportunities as other employees from different national origins. National origin discrimination means treating an employee less favorably from other employees because the employee comes from a particular place, has a particular ethnic background, or is married to someone of a particular national origin.

State and Federal laws prohibit any employment decision such as hiring and firing based on national origin. Also, the law prohibits ethnic slurs that may create a hostile work environment based on national origin. An employer may not base a decision on an employee's foreign accent unless the accent materially interferes with job performance. A fluency requirement in a particular language is permissible if required for the effective performance of the position for which it is imposed. If an employer implements a rule to use only the English language at work, the rule must be adopted for nondiscriminatory reasons such as promoting a safe or efficient operation.

An employer cannot retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on national origin (filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in a proceeding claiming National Origin discrimination ). (Participation means taking part in an employment discrimination proceeding. Participation is protected activity even if the proceeding involved claims that ultimately were found to be invalid).

If you have any questions about National Origin Discrimination, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form.

Pregnancy Discrimination

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII, which covers employers with 15 or more employees. Pregnant women must be treated in the same manner as other applicants or employees with similar abilities or limitations. An employer cannot refuse to hire a pregnant woman because of the pregnancy or conditions of pregnancy.

An employer may not single out pregnancy conditions for special procedures to determine an employee's ability to work. However, if an employer requires its employees to submit a doctor's statement concerning their inability to work before granting leave or paying sick benefits, the employer may require employees affected by pregnancy-related conditions to submit such statements. If an employee is temporarily unable to perform her job due to pregnancy, the employer must treat the employee the same as any other temporarily disabled employee.
Pregnant employees must be permitted to work as long as they are able to perform their jobs. If an employee has been absent from work as a result of a pregnancy-related condition and recovers, her employer may not require her to remain on leave until the baby's birth. An employer also may not have a rule that prohibits an employee from returning to work for a predetermined length of time after childbirth. Employers must hold open a job for a pregnancy-related absence the same length of time jobs are held open for employees on sick or disability leave.

If an employer provides any benefits to workers on leave, the employer must provide the same benefits for those on leave for pregnancy-related conditions. Employees with pregnancy-related disabilities must be treated the same as other temporarily disabled employees for accrual and crediting of seniority, vacation calculation, pay increases, and temporary disability benefits.

An employer cannot retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on pregnancy (filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in a proceeding under the P DA). (Participation means taking part in an employment discrimination proceeding. Participation is protected activity even if the proceeding involved claims that ultimately were found to be invalid).

If you have any questions about Pregnancy Discrimination, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form

Race/Color Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects individuals against employment discrimination on the bases of race and color. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees. Equal employment opportunity cannot be denied any person because of his/her racial group or perceived racial group, his/her race-linked characteristics (e.g., hair texture, color, facial features), or because of his/her marriage to or association with someone of a particular race or color. Title VII also prohibits employment decisions based on stereotypes and assumptions about abilities, traits, or the performance of individuals of certain racial groups. Title VII's prohibitions apply regardless of whether the discrimination is directed at Whites, Blacks, Asians, Latinos, Arabs, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, multi-racial individuals, or persons of any other race, color, or ethnicity.

It is unlawful to discriminate against any individual in regard to recruiting, hiring and promotion, transfer, work assignments, performance measurements, the work environment, job training, discipline and discharge, wages and benefits, or any other term, condition, or privilege of employment. Title VII prohibits not only intentional discrimination, but also neutral job policies that disproportionately affect persons of a certain race or color and that are not related to the job and the needs of the business.

Title VII prohibits offensive conduct, such as racial or ethnic slurs, racial "jokes," derogatory comments, or other verbal or physical conduct based on an individual's race/color. The conduct has to be unwelcome and offensive, and has to be severe or pervasive. Employers are required to take appropriate steps to prevent and correct unlawful harassment. Likewise, employees are responsible for reporting harassment at an early stage to prevent its escalation.

An employer cannot retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on race/color (filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in a proceeding under Title VII ). (Participation means taking part in an employment discrimination proceeding. Participation is protected activity even if the proceeding involved claims that ultimately were found to be invalid).

If you have any questions about Race or Color Discrimination, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form

Religious Discrimination

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals in hiring for firing decisions and other terms of employment because of their religion. Title VII covers employers with 15 or more employees.

Employers may not treat employees or applicants more or less favorably because of their religious beliefs or practices. An employer may not refuse to hire individuals of a certain religion, may not impose stricter promotion requirements for persons of a certain religion, and may not impose more or different work requirements on an employee because of that employee's religious beliefs or practices.

Employees cannot be forced to participate or not participate in a religious activity as a condition of employment. Employers must reasonably accommodate employees' held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious accommodation is any adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to practice his religion.

An employer can show undue hardship if accommodating an employee's religious practices requires more than ordinary administrative costs, diminishes efficiency in other jobs, infringes on other employees' job rights or benefits, impairs workplace safety, causes co-workers to carry the accommodatedemployee's share of potentially hazardous or burdensome work, or if the proposed accommodation conflicts with another law or regulation.

An employer cannot retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on religious belief (filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in a proceeding under Title VII ). (Participation means taking part in an employment discrimination proceeding. Participation is protected activity even if the proceeding involved claims that ultimately were found to be invalid).

If you have any questions about Religious Discrimination, call Remer & Georges-Pierre, PLLC for a free consultation at 305-416-5000 or toll free at 1-800-510-0442 or fill out the online request form

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