Have I been Racially discriminated against?

I have been working at my place of employment for almost 6 yrs. I have been a supervisor for 1 1/2 yrs. One of the qualifications to become a supervisor is, u must have a flexible schedule & work full-time. Currently there are 3 other African- American Supervisors who abide by this rule. There is a WHITE lady who just transferred from another site about 6 months & have only worked for the company about a year. However, she is allowed to work all morning shifts with the weekends off(as a set schedule). We all would have liked a set schedule & have asked on many occasions but the request was denied. Further more, I had a prior incident where me & the new supervisor had words & only I was suspended.
Have I been racially discriminated against?

2 answers  |  asked Feb 24, 2010 1:38 PM [EST] in Race, National Origin  |  applies to Illinois

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Answers (2)

Kristen Prinz
It sounds like your employer may be engaging in discriminatory conduct, but there is not enough information here to make a determination. Some questions to consider: Do all supervisors have the same duties, experience and skill set? Does the other site have a different set of policies? Are there other Caucasian employees that are given similar special treatment? Are there non-discriminatory reasons for providing this lady with a set schedule? In addition, more details are necessary regarding the incident that took place between you and the Caucasian employee.

You should contact an employment attorney to discuss the matter in greater detail.

My office regularly represents employees that have been subjected to discrimination.

posted by Kristen Prinz  |  Feb 24, 2010 1:59 PM [EST]
John Otto
If the reason for the difference in schedules is your race, you have been racially discriminated against. If all other aspects of your job, except your race and your schedule are the same, you have a prima facie case of racial discrimination. However, the employer can escape liability if it can state a legitimate, non-discriminatory business reason for the differences. Then the burden of proof would fall on you to prove that the employer's "reason" is bogus. As to the incident where you and the supervisor had "words," it depends on who said what and all the other circumstances.

posted by John Otto  |  Feb 24, 2010 1:56 PM [EST]