Los Angeles Top Attorneys Blog: (310) 826-6300 » racial discrimination

The Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce welcomes Mesriani Law Group’s Membership

Los Angeles Lawyer — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:23:27 +0000

The Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the Mesriani Law Group in its roster of advocates. With the intention of further expanding its role in the community, the law firm has decided to become an official member of the Chamber mid-January this year.

Through the affiliation of Mesriani Law Group with the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, the former would have the opportunity to strengthen its partnership with local businesses, government, and community-based organizations in Santa Monica for the benefit of the development of the legal services sector in California.

High-caliber Los Angeles lawyers of Mesriani Law Group are very much accessible to efficiently and diligently help out victims of personal injury accidents and employment discrimination, as well as social security disability benefit claimants residing in Santa Monica.

Department Store Chain Sued by EEOC for Retaliation and Discrimination

Los Angeles Lawyer — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:16:34 +0000

A major department store chain in Houston is being sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for retaliation after it fired an employee who complained about discrimination for alleged “excessive absenteeism”.

Dillard’s store in Port Arthur’s Central Mall employed Shontel Mayfield as the business manager of Estee Lauder’s counter. According to the lawsuit, when Mayfield complied with Jefferson County’s mandatory evacuation order because of Hurricane Ike, she was told when she returned to work on September 24 that her employment is being terminated because of her absences. She was accused of failing to maintain verbal communication to explain her absences to either the store manager or operations manager.

However, telephone records show that Mayfield called Dillard’s disaster recovery number several times during the evacuation period. Further, records also show that she placed several calls to the store manager and operations manager’s cellular phones.

Mayfield claims that the termination of her employment was motivated by a prior discrimination complaint in which she alleged that the management discriminated against her because of her race.

The EEOC said that it is every company’s duty to respond to discrimination complaints and not find excuses to fire productive employees who make such complaints in good faith. The agency is seeking back pay, as well as punitive and compensatory damages in behalf of Mayfield. A permanent injunction prohibiting Dillard’s from retaliation is also being sought by the EEOC.

Retaliation is any adverse employment action or decision committed against an employee because he or she complained about harassment or discrimination, is considered a “whistleblower”, or exercised his/her rights under the law. Retaliation is actually prohibited under several Federal and state laws but under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers cannot retaliate against employees who complain about racial discrimination or other employment discrimination based on color, religion, sex or national origin.

If you or a loved one is experiencing retaliation at work, you should get in touch with an employment attorney. For a free case analysis or for any concerns or questions about discrimination and retaliation, visit the Mesriani Law Group’s website http://www.mesrianilaw.com or call them at their toll free number at 1-866-325-4529 or email them at info@mesriani.com for a free case analysis.

Racial Discrimination: Effect on Support for Obama and his Policies

Los Angeles Lawyer — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:04:30 +0000

A recent study on how racial discrimination affects American support for Obama and his health care reform revealed some interesting results.

According to the study by Eric Knowles of UC Irvine, the study tested 285 whites, Latinos and Asians for underlying bias against blacks.

About 45 percent of the subjects identified themselves a liberal or very liberal, while 25 percent said they were conservative or very conservative.

The study did not attempt to measure how pervasive prejudice is rather it measures if Obama’s skin color has an effect on the perception of him and his policies.

The results show that half of the participants who were deemed to be most racially biased were 43% most likely to vote against Obama than the other half.

Among those more highly prejudiced participants, 65% liked the health plan when it was attributed to Clinton while only 41% liked it when it was attributed to Obama.

The GOP rebukes the study saying that Obama would not have won and became president if racism existed in a serious level.

I think the study shows that although racism has gone down far enough for us to actually elect a black president.

It did not actually remove some of our preconceptions, ideas or even just negative feelings against people of different races.

It exists in many workplaces where employment decisions are based on a person’s race even though sometimes it is done unconsciously.

Racism will not disappear anytime in the near future. What we can do is work on ourselves to make sure that despite what we think of others, we can be better people by seeing past what we think and see what really is.