Discrimination is thus the act of treating two – otherwise identical individuals – differently based on any attribute, behaviour, or characteristic that allows one to distinguish them.
Age. Age discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) less favorably because of age. Disability. Genetic Information. Unlawful Workplace Harassment (Harassment) ... National Origin. Pregnancy. Race/Color. Religion.
Wronged employees have three ways of proving their employers intended to discriminate: circumstantial evidence, direct evidence, and pattern and practice. Circumstantial evidence is evidence that proves a fact by inference, as opposed to direct evidence which directly proves a fact.
Legally, the term “discrimination” covers only actions that are taken against people because they belong to certain protected classes such as age, gender, race, and the many others that will be discussed in detail throughout this chapter.
What is not considered unlawful discrimination? Treating someone differently is not necessarily unlawful discrimination. Some different treatment such as general performance management may not be an unlawful discrimination issue.
Discrimination refers to different treatment for similarly situated parties, especially when no legitimate reason appears to exist. For example, an employer who rejects all female applicants and hires the first male applicant with the same qualifications might be discriminating on the basis of gender.