Workplace discrimination happens when someone is discriminated against based on their inclusion in a protected class. Examples of protected classes include gender, age, religion, national origin and much more. Employers are supposed to give all employees fair treatment and cannot discriminate based on these characteristics or inclusion in these protected classes.
Misperception discrimination happens when the employer thinks that someone is in a protected class, but they actually are not. It could still be a violation of their rights based on this perception by their employer, even though they wouldn’t ordinarily have been given those same protections.
How could this occur?
For example, perhaps an employer believes that one of their female employees has become pregnant. Maybe there is just a rumor going around the office or maybe the owner of the company heard two employees talking and misinterpreted it as a pregnancy announcement.
The employer quickly fires that employee, not wanting to have to pay someone on maternity leave. They want to replace them with someone else who isn’t starting a family.
But then it comes out that the employee who was fired was never actually pregnant. Maybe the rumor was wrong or it was just a misunderstanding. But it could still be a violation of that person’s rights. They were still fired based on the perception that they were pregnant, which is a protected class – even if that perception was wrong.
The legal process
A situation like this can become fairly complicated. If you have been discriminated against, take the time to look into all of your legal options.