Can Microaggressions Be Serious Enough for a Discrimination Claim?

Employment discrimination in the hiring process or in day-to-day employment can be obvious in some situations. For example, an employer might ask questions in an interview about a job applicant’s sexual orientation or race that are clearly unlawful under state and federal law. However, it is more common for employment discrimination to take more subtle forms. In many workplaces and in application processes, job applicants and employees are the targets of microaggressions.

If you have been the target of microaggressions or currently work in an environment where microaggressions are common and negatively impact the work environment, you may be wondering if those microaggressions are serious enough to constitute unlawful discrimination. In short, microaggressions can be a form of employment discrimination. Consider the following information from our South Florida employment discrimination attorneys.

What is a Microaggression?

What is a microaggression? This term has become much more common in our culture over the decade, but what does it mean? According to the American Psychological Association (APA), “microaggression events refer to everyday derogations, slights, and invalidations that are often delivered to people of minority or marginalized backgrounds.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a microaggression as “a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group.” Microaggressions can involve speech or behavior.

For example, microaggressions can range from comments such as “I never see a person’s race” (which can diminish that person’s experience as a Black person in the American workplace, for example), to describing assertive male employees in a positive way as “self-assured” or “energetic” while describing similarly assertive female employees in a negative way as “aggressive” or “pushy.”

When Does a Microaggression Rise to the Level of Unlawful Discrimination?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other federal laws, as well as the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA), protect job applicants and employees who are members of protected classes from unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, and more. Generally speaking, in order for microaggressions to be unlawful, they must usually create a hostile work environment (although an employer who perpetrates microaggressions may also be treating an employee in an adverse manner because of their race, sex, or membership in another protected class, which can also be actionable).

Either an employee who is the target of microaggressions or an employee who is affected by a hostile work environment can file a hostile work environment claim, which is a type of harassment claim. Typically, for a hostile work environment to exist, the conduct must be so pervasive that a reasonable person would find the work situation to be abusive.

Contact Our Palm Beach Gardens Employment Discrimination Attorneys for Assistance

Have you experienced microaggressions in the workplace, whether you were the target of these comments or someone who has been negatively impacted by the toxic work environment they create? You may be able to file an employment discrimination claim. To find out more, you should get in touch with one of the experienced Palm Beach Gardens employment discrimination lawyers at Sconzo Law Office. We can speak with you today about different options for moving forward with an employment discrimination case.

Sources:

apa.org/pubs/highlights/spotlight/issue-133

merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microaggression

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0760/0760ContentsIndex.html

dol.gov/agencies/oasam/centers-offices/civil-rights-center/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-of-1964