Labor Law Issues: North Dakota Racial Discrimination

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North Dakota is an at-will employment state, which means that either an employee or an employer has the right to terminate the work relationship at any time.  In other words, a worker can quit for any reason and an employee can fire a worker for any reason.  While this may seem like an open door for racial and other types of discrimination, North Dakota has some state statutes in place than supplement federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination in the workplace.  Discrimination on the basis of color or national origin is prohibited by both the federal and state laws, and these laws can help protect you and your rights should you feel that you have been discriminated against and want to file an official complaint.

 

The government of North Dakota defines discrimination as "being treated differently than others because of one's status in a protected category such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability."  This unfair and unequal treatment is not only illegal in the workplace but also just about everywhere else.  Discrimination can be defined in terms of concrete events like hiring certain people and denying work to others based on racial preferences, or it can refer to harassment in the workplace that constitutes a hostile work environment.

 

Many times racial discrimination claims are made against an employer or persons involved in management, but sometimes it can just be a case of coworkers at equal levels bullying each other in an unacceptable way.  If you report racial harassment from your coworkers to your boss, hopefully something will be done about it without raising the need for you to file a formal complaint.  Most businesses take their responsibility of creating a fair workplace seriously, and with any luck it doesn't need to go any further than that.  However, if you tell your boss that you are being harassed or discriminated against and nothing is done about it (or worse, you feel your boss is taking the other party's side), then you may have to take the next step and contact your nearest Equal Employment Opportunity  Commission (EEOC) office to learn what your options are for making a formal complaint. 

 

In North Dakota, in addition to filing a complaint with the EEOC, you also have the option to contact the Human Rights Division of the North Dakota Department of Labor, which is often referred to as the HRD.  The HRD has a work-sharing agreement with the EEOC, and the two organizations can work together to help process your complaint.  Because of this cooperation, there is no need for you to file your complaint with both agencies - one will inform the other during processing.  You do, however, need to inform them that you would like to cross-file your complaint if you want both agencies to work on it simultaneously.North Dakota is an at-will employment state, which means that either an employee or an employer has the right to terminate the work relationship at any time.  In other words, a worker can quit for any reason and an employee can fire a worker for any reason.  While this may seem like an open door for racial and other types of discrimination, North Dakota has some state statutes in place than supplement federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination in the workplace.  Discrimination on the basis of color or national origin is prohibited by both the federal and state laws, and these laws can help protect you and your rights should you feel that you have been discriminated against and want to file an official complaint.

 

The government of North Dakota defines discrimination as "being treated differently than others because of one's status in a protected category such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability."  This unfair and unequal treatment is not only illegal in the workplace but also just about everywhere else.  Discrimination can be defined in terms of concrete events like hiring certain people and denying work to others based on racial preferences, or it can refer to harassment in the workplace that constitutes a hostile work environment.

 

Many times racial discrimination claims are made against an employer or persons involved in management, but sometimes it can just be a case of coworkers at equal levels bullying each other in an unacceptable way.  If you report racial harassment from your coworkers to your boss, hopefully something will be done about it without raising the need for you to file a formal complaint.  Most businesses take their responsibility of creating a fair workplace seriously, and with any luck it doesn't need to go any further than that.  However, if you tell your boss that you are being harassed or discriminated against and nothing is done about it (or worse, you feel your boss is taking the other party's side), then you may have to take the next step and contact your nearest EEOC office to learn what your options are for making a formal complaint. 

 

In North Dakota, in addition to filing a complaint with the EEOC, you also have the option to contact the Human Rights Division of the North Dakota Department of Labor, which is often referred to as the HRD.  The HRD has a work-sharing agreement with the EEOC, and the two organizations can work together to help process your complaint.  Because of this cooperation, there is no need for you to file your complaint with both agencies - one will inform the other during processing.  You do, however, need to inform them that you would like to cross-file your complaint if you want both agencies to work on it simultaneously.