Oklahoma Employment Discrimination and Harassment Lawyer

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You work hard to support yourself and your family, and you need your job. However, that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate unfair discrimination or harassment in the workplace. Workplace discrimination is against Oklahoma state and U.S. federal laws. When you’ve been the victim of workplace discrimination or harassment, call Tim Gilpin at Gilpin Law Office to get a free legal consultation from an experienced Oklahoma discrimination law firm.

Understanding Discrimination Law in Oklahoma

Few things in life are more devastating to you than being harassed or losing a job due to your race, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, disability, age, or because you had a work-related injury. When you need a local attorney who understands discrimination law inside and out, Tim Gilpin is the one to call.

If an employer has 15 or more employees, federal laws like Title VII or the ADA may apply. Employers with fewer than 15 employees are typically governed by state laws, which often have different thresholds or requirements.

If the claim falls under federal law, such as Title VII, the statute of limitations for filing is 300 days. The first step is to file a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) within this time frame. For claims under Oklahoma state law, a complaint must typically be filed with the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office within 180 days of the offending act.

In successful cases, remedies may include payment of back wages, compensation for reasonably lost future wages, benefits lost, emotional distress, and pain and suffering resulting from the job loss and its impact on a family’s life.

Types of Employment Discrimination

• Sex-Based or Sexual Orientation Discrimination
  Sexual discrimination occurs when a manager, supervisor, or coworker won’t take “no” for an answer to sexual advances, continues making offensive sex-related comments, or treats you adversely because of your sexual or gender orientation. This includes name-calling, poor assignments, mistreatment, harassment, or retaliation because you said “no” to intimate contact or sexual interest or because of who you are due to your sexual orientation. The law protects employees from discrimination, harassment, and job termination due to their gender and sexual orientation under state and federal Title VII laws.

• Race and National Origin
  Under state and federal Title VII laws, employees are also protected from harassment, discrimination, and employment termination based on their race or national origin. When a supervisor, manager, or coworker treats you adversely based on race or national origin rather than the quality of work, this is discrimination. Name-calling, poor assignments, harassment, retaliation, and mistreatment are also examples of discrimination under the law.

• Disability
  An injured or disabled worker is protected under the law from adverse treatment at work, harassment, and termination when all they need is reasonable accommodation to do their job. Further, an employer cannot treat an able-bodied worker as disabled because of an injury or condition that doesn’t stop the employee from doing his or her job. It’s against the law to harass, fire, or retaliate because of a disability or because your boss views you as disabled. If you can perform your job either without accommodation or with reasonable accommodation, you should not be treated adversely or lose your job.

• Pregnancy
  An employee cannot be adversely treated at the workplace or fired because she is pregnant or takes some time off to care for her child after giving birth. Unfortunately, all too often, a woman is looked down on as a liability and then harassed, given poor work assignments, or fired because of pregnancy or taking off to care for her child.

It is against the law to harass, fire, or retaliate because of sex, pregnancy, or the need for time off work after the birth of a child. If you have vacation time saved up or are eligible under the Family and Medical Leave (FMLA), taking time off after your child’s birth shouldn’t count against your job or your career. Such claims typically fall under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and/or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibit discrimination based on sex, including pregnancy-related conditions.