Baltimore Employment Discrimination Lawyer
If you believe your employer has discriminated against you in the workplace, consult an employment discrimination attorney in Baltimore to file an official complaint and hold your employer accountable for their unlawful actions.
Experiencing discrimination at work can be frustrating and hurtful. Whether you’ve been denied a job position as a potential candidate, been wrongfully terminated from a job, or you’re being treated unfairly in your current position, discrimination may be the underlying cause if no other valid reason can be determined for the incident.
It’s important to stop discrimination in its tracks whenever an employer mistreats an employee; otherwise, the employer may continue to get away with treating others this way in the future. At Snider & Associates, LLC, we can ensure your voice is heard by a Baltimore employment discrimination lawyer on the issue. We can assist you in filing an official complaint against your employer so that you have the potential to receive remedies for your mistreatment.
Examples of Discrimination in the Workplace
Discrimination in the workplace often happens in the hiring and firing process. Employers will sometimes deny potential candidates a job position because of pregnancy, genetic diagnosis, disability, religion, sex, or race, but they’ll disguise their denial with more ethical reasoning. Employers sometimes also wrongfully terminate an employee under the same circumstances.
Discrimination can also happen at work when an employer doesn’t equally pay employees with the same positions, when employers withhold job promotions, or when verbal abuse becomes regular behavior. Whatever the situation may be, a Baltimore workplace discrimination attorney can do an investigation to determine whether prejudice is the underlying cause.
How You’re Protected Under the Law in Baltimore
There are numerous labor laws in place which protect employees against discrimination. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the most prominent of the federal antidiscrimination statutes, and it states that it’s unlawful for employers to discriminate on the basis of sex, age, color, race, religion, or national origin. Other federal statutes that protect against discrimination include:
- The Equal Pay Act
- The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
- The Americans with Disabilities Act
- The Pregnancy Discrimination Act
- The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
Maryland reinforces these antidiscrimination statutes with state laws as well. In the state of Maryland, it’s illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, physical disability, mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
Filing a Complaint in Maryland
You’ll have to file either a state or federal complaint before pursuing a lawsuit for your discrimination incident. You can file a complaint in the state of Maryland with the Maryland Commission of Civil Rights (MCCR). You’ll need to file the complaint online within 180 days of when the incident occurred. Once you’ve submitted the online form, a member of the intake unit will contact you for an interview.
Once you complete the interview and submit the required documents, including a charge of discrimination, your complaint will be filed and the MCCR will begin their review. The investigator assigned to your case may interview witnesses, gather evidence, and conduct on-site visits to assess your case. The investigator will either find probable cause or no probable cause for discrimination.
You may request a reconsideration if you don’t agree with the MCCR’s decision, in which case they’ll do a deeper investigation and present you with a final decision on the matter. If you still don’t agree with the MCCR’s decision, you can request a notice of a right to sue and then proceed to file a lawsuit if the right to sue is granted.
If you choose to file your complaint federally with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the same process will ensue. In some cases, the federal agency will automatically cross-file the claim with your state’s employment agency.
Exceptions to Discrimination Protection
What many employees may not know is that most federal and state antidiscrimination statutes only protect employees who work at companies with fifteen or more employees. If you’ve been discriminated against at work and your company has less than fifteen employees, you may be protected under different laws.
Seeking advice from an employment discrimination attorney can be particularly helpful under these circumstances when the process is less clear and you may need to find entry points into the system.
Reach Out to a Baltimore Employment Discrimination Attorney
At Snider & Associates, LLC, we strive to help all employees who have been mistreated. The complaint process may seem complex, but with our guidance, it can feel less stressful. Hopefully, you’ll walk away feeling as though justice has been served.
To discuss your case with a Baltimore employment discrimination lawyer, call 410-653-9060 or fill out the contact form below to schedule a consultation.