DC Employment Discrimination Lawyer

Employment discrimination is when an employer makes an employment decision based on an inherent characteristic about you, something about your identity that you cannot change, such as your race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, sex, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Federal law also prohibits discrimination against individuals because of their veteran status. Employers are also prohibited from discriminating against an employee because the employee is associated with a person with one of these characteristics. State and local anti-discrimination laws sometimes offer additional forms of protection against other types of discrimination.

Discrimination includes actions such as not being hired, not being promoted, being fired, being demoted, being disciplined, being paid less, or being given less desirable job assignments based on a personal characteristic protected under the law.

Roshni Shikari has over a decade of experience representing employees with all types of discrimination claims, from hiring and promotion decisions to demotion, pay disparities, and wrongful termination.

Laws That Protect You

Employment discrimination claims can arise under several different federal, DC, and state laws, including:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects workers 40 and older
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination based on disability and requires reasonable accommodations.
• The Equal Pay Act requires equal pay for equal work regardless of sex
• The DC Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination on a broader set of grounds than federal law, including sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital status
• The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions

Because these laws overlap and sometimes apply differently depending on your employer’s size and location, identifying all the claims available to you often requires a careful review of the facts.

What to Know Before You File a Claim

Document the discriminatory decision and the reasoning given for it. Written communications, performance reviews, and details about how similarly situated coworkers outside your protected class were treated can all matter. If your employer doesn’t volunteer a reason for the decision, you can and should ask for one, preferably in writing. Employers sometimes shift or add reasons after a claim is filed, and having their original explanation on record can make later, inconsistent justifications easier to challenge.

Understand your filing deadline and your options. Many federal discrimination claims must be filed with the EEOC first, within a limited time window, before you can go to court. But this isn’t universal. Some federal claims, like those under the Equal Pay Act or Section 1981 (covering race discrimination), don’t require filing with an agency first and can go straight to court. Under the DC Human Rights Act, you’re not required to file with the DC Office of Human Rights first; instead, you can go straight to the DC Superior Court within the applicable statute of limitations. Which path is available, and which makes the most sense, depends on which law covers your claim and other case-specific factors. Missing the applicable deadline, whichever path applies, can permanently bar you from bringing your case.

Consult an employment discrimination attorney early. Given how many overlapping laws and forum options can apply to a single claim, an early consultation can help you choose the right path before a deadline forecloses it. 

Why Work With a DC Employment Discrimination Attorney

Proving that a decision was motivated by discrimination, rather than a legitimate business reason an employer offers after the fact, is often the central challenge in these cases. Roshni Shikari has spent over a decade building the kind of case that meets that challenge: identifying the right evidence, comparators, and legal theory for each client’s situation.

Contact The Shikari Law Firm for a Free Consultation

Discrimination cases often turn on evidence that’s easy to lose or overlook if you wait. Contact The Shikari Law Firm today for a free consultation.