racial discrimination

[goodbirdie]

What is the name of your state? CA.

In order to be discriminated against because of race, do you have to belong to a protected group? Sounds like it, but a couple of us in an office are being treated badly and as obviously "unpreferred" because we are not the same race as the home company, upper management and 97% of the rest of the office. We who are being treated badly are not a "protected" group. We just are not the same nationality as the rest of the majority of the company.

 

[cbg]

Everyone's race is a protected group. I assume by what you've said that you are Caucasian? It's just as illegal to discriminate against someone because they're Caucasian as it is to discriminate against someone of any other race.

Now, whether or not you can prove it's because of your race is something you haven't posted enough detail to say.

 

[goodbirdie]

Really? I thought you had to be a member of a protected race to be thought to have been discriminated against.

Probably nothing "provable," as you say. Everyone speaks their native language all day long, including regarding business. So that the few of us who do not speak that language are constantly in the dark about new work processes that have been decided on, making us "look bad" when we do things wrong because we never heard about anything having been changed. Even our boss will only revert to English when he has to because one of us is present. Although, he'll often carry on lengthy conversations with other of the office people right in front of us in the other language.

The "in race" are asked to participate in choosing new office furniture; we are not. The "in race" knows information well ahead of time (like when our office was being relocated a significant distance from our previous location); they even saw the new office before any of us "unpreferred" ones knew we were moving. The "in race" are the only ones praised publicly. If any of the rest of us do the same thing, or maybe something even "grander," we're not praised.

Oh maybe you get the idea. It's just pervasive and layer upon layer upon layer. But you're never going to find a "memo" from anyone that says "Only people of the XXXX race will receive promotions."

Is this just one of those "oh, too bad" things about working for a foreign-owned company?

 

[cbg]

There is no such thing as "a protected race". It is not that only minority races are protected. Race is protected, period. That means everyone. The same goes for gender; you can't be discriminated against because you are male. If a male applies for a job in a predominately female industry, his gender cannot be held against him. It's not only females that have gender protection. It's everyone.

The only Federally protected group where this does not hold true, is age. With a VERY few state-specific exceptions, you cannot be discriminated against because you are over 40, but if you are under 40 you're stuck.

I've been where you are in a foreign owed situation and I know exactly what you're talking about. And I agree, you're not going to find a memo that specifies that discrimination is taking place. The problem in my situation was that there were just enough members of other races (the CFO was Caucasian, as was the sales manager; the bookkeeper was Hispanic; one of the IT guys was black) to make it very hard to prove that it was race, rather than position in the company, that was the problem.

What I would suggest you do is document, document, document. You may not be able to prove racial bias today; that doesn't mean you won't be able to do so next week, or next month, or six months from now, if you keep records of the differences.

 

[goodbirdie]

cbg,

Thank you VERY MUCH for your advice and opinion!

Have a wonderful day!

Regards,
"goodbirdie"