Can My Employer Fire Me Because of My Accent?
Do you have an accent that a prospective employer or current employer has commented on? Have customers or clients at your place of employment remarked on your accent or asked questions about where you are from? Depending on the circumstances, you could be experiencing unlawful ethnicity or national origin discrimination. And if your employer terminates you because of your accent, you could be eligible to file a wrongful termination claim.
Whether or not an employer can treat you differently because of your accent depends on whether or not your accent is linked to ethnicity or national origin. Our South Florida employment discrimination attorneys can provide you with more information below, and we can discuss any concerns with you today.
At-Will Employment and Your Accent
In an at-will state like Florida, an employer can, in general, terminate an employee at any time and for any reason — unless that reason is in violation of state or federal laws prohibiting discrimination.
If your employer has made comments about your accent, or has made any indication that you are not a “good fit” for the job due to your accent, whether or not your employer’s termination is unlawful will depend on some details about your accent. More specifically, whether you can be eligible to file a wrongful termination claim in this situation will likely depend on the relationship between your accent and discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or national origin.
Understanding How Accents Form and How They Can Be Tied to Ethnicity and National Origin
What is an accent? According to researchers at Northeastern University, the word “accent” generally refers to “the pronunciation differences or pronunciation patterns associated with a particular dialect of a language.” Accents can develop as a result of spending time in a particular geographic region, within a social or cultural group, or as a result of learning a second (or subsequent) language after already learning a first language.
Discrimination protections under state and federal law are unlikely to protect job applications or employees who have accents solely as a result of growing up in Boston or Chicago, but they do protect job applicants and employees who have accents as a result of growing up in or around a particular ethnic community, or as a result of learning English as a second language. Terminating an employee because they have a “Mexican accent,” or a “Chinese accent,” for example, is a form of unlawful national origin discrimination.
Contact a Palm Beach Gardens Wrongful Termination Attorney for Assistance
Has your employer treated you in an adverse manner because of your accent? Or have you experienced harassment in the workplace related to your accent? Or, do you suspect you may have been denied employment in South Florida because of your accent? As we discussed above, accent bias can be a form of unlawful discrimination. It is important to seek advice from one of the experienced Palm Beach Gardens wrongful termination lawyers at Sconzo Law Office about your case. We can speak with you today to learn the facts of your case and to begin working with you on an employment discrimination lawsuit under state or federal law. Contact our firm today to learn more about how we can assist you.
Sources:
leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0760/0760ContentsIndex.html
eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964
eeoc.gov/national-origin-discrimination