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Odyssey1517 · Jan 21, 2006, 05:05 PM

I have a quick question. I live in FL, and a friend of mine was fired because her boss said that she didn't fit in to the 4 person office she was working at. I told her that it is because is was the only black female there. Everyone else was white. She was there only 3 or 2 weeks and her boss had told her she had a 3 month probation period before she let her go. But she told me her boss came in one day to the office when she wasn't scheduled to be there just to fire her. She said that her boss a week before her firing her, had said she was doing great and that everyone( meaning her patients) loved her. My friend worked at a Psychology office here in Lakeland FL. Can that boss do that to her? I told her to get a lawyer!! I think that is discrimination.:(

RickJ · Jan 21, 2006, 05:08 PM

Making those claims stick is a difficult issue.

Yes, legal advice is exactly what you need - but be wary of the attorney who is too eager.

It will be based on what evidence can be shown to back the claim.

The fact that the office is all white is not evidence. The evidence will need to show that she was treated 1. differently than others in similar circumstances, and 2. that it was specifically because of race.

... generally this is a difficult battle.

CaptainForest · Jan 21, 2006, 05:16 PM

I agree with Rickj.

Why is it that once a person is fired, it has to be racism?

Heck a 4 person office and she is the only black one there? That's not too rare. How many ethnicities are there in Florida?

Proving racism is going to be very difficult. But, if the boss was really racist, why would he have hired her 3 weeks prior?

Perhaps it's a cultural difference. The white office people weren't use to her personality or something? I don't think the fact that she was black was the reason they let her go.

But if you and her do believe racism was the factor for her firing, then you should contact a lawyer and proceed down this path.

sultrylegs2004 · Jan 21, 2006, 05:18 PM

Well, it may sound that it was discrimination but we have to both hear the two sides of the story or the two sides of the coin to be able to come up with proper conclusion but you know if this is proven that it was a discrimination assult... the former boss would have to pay the price... coz it's a BIG NO-NO in a company...

mr.yet · Jan 21, 2006, 06:06 PM

Use this link for meaning of discrimination and remedies for it.

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html

Fr_Chuck · Jan 22, 2006, 11:28 AM

During a probationary period a person can be let go with no cause.
They did not have to give her a reason.

She may have not worked as hard as the other, she may have not eaten the right food, she may not have lived in the right area, she may not have worn the right clothes, it could have been anyting

Of course if they did not want a black, they just would not have hired her to start with.