In the current economic down turn, companies are laying off employees with increasing frequency.  While a company may have legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons for laying off employees, in some situations, those reasons might simply be a pretext for unlawful discrimination.   

There are many federal laws protecting employees from discrimination in employment.  Some of the most common forms of discrimination are discrimination based upon race, sex, age, religion, national origin, pregnancy and disability.  Federal laws prohibit discriminatory practices against employees in these protected classes.  The primary federal laws offering protection are the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

If your layoff is merely a pretext for the employer to discriminate against you based on race, sex, age, religion, national origin, pregnancy and disability, you might have a claim under federal law.  Consult with an employment discrimination lawyer to find out what your rights are and whether they have been violated.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 5:22 pm and is filed under Employment Discrimination. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.