RACE DISCRIMINATION

Title VII is the cornerstone federal law prohibiting race discrimination in employment. It applies to employers with 15 or more employees and prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and ethnicity in all aspects of employment — hiring, firing, pay, promotions, job assignments, training, benefits, discipline, and every other term and condition of employment. Title VII protects people of all races, not just racial minorities. White employees who experience discrimination because of their race are equally protected.

Title VII also prohibits employment practices that are facially neutral but have an unjustified disparate impact on employees of a particular race. A hiring practice, test, or qualification that disproportionately screens out applicants of one race and is not justified by business necessity violates Title VII even if the employer did not intend to discriminate.

42 U.S.C. § 1981 provides an additional federal remedy for race discrimination that offers several advantages over Title VII. Section 1981 has no minimum employer size requirement — it applies to all employers regardless of the number of employees. It does not require filing a charge with the EEOC before bringing a lawsuit. It has a longer statute of limitations (four years for most claims). And it allows for uncapped compensatory and punitive damages. Section 1981 protects the right to make and enforce contracts, which courts have interpreted to cover the full employment relationship from hiring through termination.

West Virginia's Human Rights Act prohibits race discrimination by employers with 12 or more employees and provides for compensatory and punitive damages without caps. The Act covers discrimination based on race, color, and ancestry, and has been applied by West Virginia courts to address both individual acts of discrimination and systemic patterns of racial bias. Claims can be filed with the West Virginia Human Rights Commission or directly in state court.

Paying employees of one race less than employees of another race for substantially similar work violates both Title VII and Section 1981. Race-based disparities in job assignments, shift selections, overtime opportunities, and access to training and professional development are also actionable. Even when the employer does not set different pay rates explicitly by race, pay practices that result in racial disparities — such as relying heavily on prior salary history or subjective manager discretion — can violate the law if they are not justified by legitimate, non-discriminatory factors.

Applying disciplinary policies more harshly to employees of one race than another is a common form of race discrimination. If employees of one race are fired for infractions that result in only a warning for employees of another race, the disparity is evidence of discriminatory treatment. Similarly, pretextual terminations — where the employer offers a facially legitimate reason that does not hold up under scrutiny — often mask racial bias. The employee's work history, the treatment of comparators (similarly situated employees of a different race), and the timing and circumstances of the termination can all expose the pretext.