Nevada Labor Laws: Racial Discrimination

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If you live and work in the state of Nevada and feel that you have been racially discriminated against in the workplace, you may be dreading filing a claim. Many cases of racial discrimination go unreported each year because the victims are either intimidated by the idea that they may be retaliated against or they feel overwhelmed at the idea of having to go to court. The good news is that although some racial discrimination cases do go to court, many are also resolved via administrative agencies through mediation or other processes. In any case, it's important to report discrimination when it happens, so that in the future, it won't happen as often.

 

Although you may feel hesitant about reporting your discrimination incident, it's important for several reasons that you report it as soon as you can. For one thing, if you are planning on trying to resolve the matter internally within your company, you'll want to do so in a timely fashion so that the incident is fresh in everyone's memory. Your HR department may not be able to help you if the people involved with the incident cannot remember it clearly enough to discuss it in detail. If the incident cannot be resolved internally, and you have to take your claim to the next level, then acting quickly becomes even more important. Both the Nevada Equal Rights Commission (NERC) at the state level and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at the federal level have strict statutes of limitations governing the length of time that you can wait before filing a racial discrimination claim.

 

The NERC stipulates that you have six months to file your claim, starting from the day you were allegedly discriminated against. The EEOC has a similar limit of 180 days, but this does not mean that you should sit around for five months while considering how to proceed. As your lawyer will advise you, you may be up against other legal deadlines that you are not aware of, and it is frustrating to have your case dismissed on a time-limit technicality if you do not meet a particular deadline.

 

Sometimes, claimants are hesitant to come forward because they are not certain if what they have experienced is considered discrimination.  Nevada has very clear laws governing what is and what is not considered discriminatory behavior.  You cannot be singled out or have decisions made regarding your employment that are based on your skin color, hair texture, or shape of your facial features. It is also illegal for your employer to classify or segregate employees based on race or perception of racial stereotypes. In other words, your employer cannot assign you to a certain job simply because the perception is that people of your race are better at that kind of job. Even racial harassment, which includes jokes and derogatory comments, violates the law on the basis of creating a hostile work environment. If any of these things have ever happened to you, you should seek legal aid right away.