Target Faces Discrimination Lawsuit
Posted: Wednesday, July 24th, 2013 at 11:31 am
Target, the mammoth retail chain popular across the nation, is now faced with a lawsuit alleging discrimination against three Hispanic former employees at one of the company’s warehouses in Yolo County, California.
The workers named in the lawsuit have claimed harassment and workplace discrimination from the repeated use of racial slurs and language, both spoken and in official department documents. The source of the harassment, the employees say, was the virtually all-white management staff, who are alleged to have made comments like “only a ‘wetback’ can work this hard” and distributed printed materials describing Mexicans and Cubans as salsa-loving, sombrero-wearing illegal aliens and political refugees.
Target’s response included statements that the paper, “Organization Effectiveness, Employee and Labor Relations Multi-Cultural Tips”, was “never part of any formal, or company-wide training” and “not representative of who Target is.”
Included in the complaint is the workers’ claim that they suffered retaliation after one of the individuals escalated the issue to the human resources department – only to face more managerial harassment and, as was true for the other two employees, eventual termination.
<h1>Evidence of Abuse</h1>
In cases where actions illegal under state and federal law occur – such as discrimination based on a person’s ethnicity, gender or religion – it’s vital that those targeted record everything they can. Too often a hurt worker is too stressed to take the care needed to prevent a courtroom scenario where hearsay is weighed by the credibility of the parties involved. Without evidence such as rock-solid proof of discriminatory documents on company letterhead, those seeking relief may not get it.
But with diligent documentation, employees facing discrimination can feel confident in bringing the problem to a supervisor – or taking it to human resources, if the concerns involve management. Even if the claim is found to be without merit, workers worried about retaliatory punishment are covered by the law, which makes it expressly illegal to attack a worker who shares concerns about workplace harassment. Should they be retaliated against, workers then have the right to seek relief through the EEOC or legal counsel.
Target, the mammoth retail chain popular across the nation, is now faced with a lawsuit alleging discrimination against three Hispanic former employees at one of the company’s warehouses in Yolo County, California.
The workers named in the lawsuit have claimed harassment and workplace discrimination from the repeated use of racial slurs and language, both spoken and in official department documents. The source of the harassment, the employees say, was the virtually all-white management staff, who are alleged to have made comments like “only a ‘wetback’ can work this hard” and distributed printed materials describing Mexicans and Cubans as salsa-loving, sombrero-wearing illegal aliens and political refugees.
Target’s response included statements that the paper, “Organization Effectiveness, Employee and Labor Relations Multi-Cultural Tips”, was “never part of any formal, or company-wide training” and “not representative of who Target is.”
Included in the complaint is the workers’ claim that they suffered retaliation after one of the individuals escalated the issue to the human resources department – only to face more managerial harassment and, as was true for the other two employees, eventual termination.
<h1>Evidence of Abuse</h1>
In cases where actions illegal under state and federal law occur – such as discrimination based on a person’s ethnicity, gender or religion – it’s vital that those targeted record everything they can. Too often a hurt worker is too stressed to take the care needed to prevent a courtroom scenario where hearsay is weighed by the credibility of the parties involved. Without evidence such as rock-solid proof of discriminatory documents on company letterhead, those seeking relief may not get it.
But with diligent documentation, employees facing discrimination can feel confident in bringing the problem to a supervisor – or taking it to human resources, if the concerns involve management. Even if the claim is found to be without merit, workers worried about retaliatory punishment are covered by the law, which makes it expressly illegal to attack a worker who shares concerns about workplace harassment. Should they be retaliated against, workers then have the right to seek relief through the EEOC or legal counsel.
Bookmark This Article:
| del.icio.us: 
|
Digg: |
Technorati:
|
Newsvine: 
|
Reddit: 
|
Furl: 
|
|
| Stumble Upon: 
|
Yahoo!: |
Google:
|