Racial Discrimination Labor Law in Florida

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There are laws in place that dictate how people are allowed to behave toward one another in the workplace in order to create a fair and accepting environment for all of the employees.  It's unfortunate that people have to be told to do this, but what's even more unfortunate is that these laws are not always followed as workplace racial discrimination still exists at all levels in many different businesses.  Sometimes it is a company's established policies that lead to discriminatory practices, and other times the problem stems from the creation of a hostile work environment that is caused by the behavior of the employees or managers.  Either way, Florida follows the federal statutes that prohibit any kind of racial discrimination in the workplace, and if you feel that you have been the victim of racial discrimination, you can file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in order to get the problem resolved.The EEOC has a statute of limitations in place on the amount of time that can pass between a discriminatory incident and a complaint being filed.  From the time of the discriminatory act, the EEOC allows you 180 days to make a formal complaint, at which time your claim will be investigated and you may or may not be given the right to take your case further and sue.  The 180 days can be easy to measure if you are dealing with a single discriminatory incident, but what if the discrimination has been ongoing, or if there are several incidents you'd like to complain about?When dealing with ongoing or multiple instances of workplace racial discrimination, you can start counting your 180 days from the time of the most recent incident. But really, you want to file your report as soon as possible as there may be other legal deadlines that could interfere.  Basically, the sooner you can get the ball rolling, the better, as the incident will be fresher in everyone's minds.  If you are avoiding making a racial discrimination complaint because you are worried about either losing your job or being intimidated in some way, you should be aware that it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee for filing a discrimination complaint, and if some form of retaliation should occur, it will be added to your complaint.  As an employee, you have the right to continue working as long as you abide by the rules and regulations of your workplace and continue doing your job at the required standard.