Know Your Rights under Ohio Discrimination Laws
1. Gather All Your Paperwork.
If you are an employee of a company, there is likely paperwork that you were given when you started working that lists company policies. Look for:
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Your Employment Contract (Did you sign a contract when you started working?)
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Your employment applicaiton. (Did you obtain a copy of your application?)
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The Employee Handbook.
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The Employee Benefits book.
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Copies of any policies given in addition to the handbook.
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Copies of emails or memoranda
2. Write out your story of sexual harassment, gender or race discrimination, retaliatory conduct describing the events which led to your wrongful discharge, demotion or other adverse employment action.
It's very important to make a contemporaneous record of the events happening at or near the time they occur when you are in the middle of what feels like race discrimination, gender discrimination or sexual harassment. The mind forgets painful events very quickly. Details will disappear from memory. So, while things are fresh in your mind, write them down in a journal or a diary. Keep them factual - without expressing your feelings or opinions about the events - so they can provide a good record of what exactly happened. It is important when describing sexual harassment, to record every detail of the encounters with the unwelcome advances. No matter how offensive the language, "Hey baby," or the conduct, for example, touching your body or private parts without consent, it is important to note exactly what was said and done.
Put the names of witnesses to the unwelcome sexual harassment, or to the offensive language, or to the discrimination. Be sure to include their contact information: address and phone number.
To keep your diary private, you should contact a lawyer as soon as you suspect or think that there is illegal sexual harassment, race discrimination, gender discrimination or other wrongful conduct occurring on the job. Once you have an Ohio discrimination attorney, your records of the activities can be protected with the attorney-client privilege.
3. Report the Unwelcome Conduct Immediately.
It is important that if you witness or experience unwelcome sexual harassment, race or gender discrimination or other unwelcome or inappropriate conduct in the workplace, that you report it to your supervisor, or to a human resources officer as soon as possible. Even if the unwelcome employment discrimination is coming from your boss, you need to bypass him or her, and go to his or her boss, and to the human resource department with a complaint. Written complaints are usually considered "formal" complaints, and are treated more seriously than verbal complaints, although the law requires companies to investigate and handle any complaint of sexual harassment, hostile work environment or discrimination.
You have a right to say "No" to anyone in the company who tries to invade your sexual privacy or to force you to be audience to unwelcome sexual conversation or conduct. You do not have to perform any type of sexual or intimate acts of any kind as part of your employment according to federal and Ohio discrimination laws. You have an absolute right to say "no," and to be protected in your job after you have said no. However, in order to get the protection of the Ohio discrimination law, it is very important that once you have said, "No!", you then report the offensive request to the right authorities in the company, in writing.
3. Find an Ohio Discrimination Lawyer as Quickly as Possible.
Ohio discrimination laws and federal discrimination laws protect employees who seek representation from an Ohio discrimination lawyer. Quite often the person who is suffering from sexual harassment or from gender or race discrimination cannot see the pattern of illegal behavior without assistance. A skilled Ohio discrimination lawyer will be able to look at the big picture and help you connect the dots. Once you obtain legal counsel from an Ohio employment lawyer, you will be protected from retaliation against you, even if in fact, there is no merit to your claim of sexual harassment or race discrimination.
If you don't seek the help of an Ohio discrimination lawyer, you may find yourself receiving a classic set-up - your job performance criticized, and before you know it, you have been fired and find yourself out of work, wondering what happened. The earlier you get the help of a competent Ohio discrimination lawyer, the easier it will be to preserve evidence for a potential trial, to set up reasonable communication lines with Human Resources or upper management, and to either preserve the job status quo or find new employment.
You can find out if you have a case by calling Paige A. Martin, an Ohio discrimination lawyer at 614-577-0488.