Guide to Medical Labor Laws

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In the U.S., employment discrimination occurs whenever an employer or its representatives adversely single out employees or applicants on the basis of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion and a variety of other reasons.

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers can’t discriminate against you in any aspect of employment, such as:
 Hiring and firing
 Compensation, assignment, or classification of employees
 Transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall
 Job advertisements
 Recruitment
 Testing
 Use of company facilities
 Training and apprenticeship programs
 Fringe benefits
 Pay, retirement plans, and disability leave

But to be “illegal” discrimination, your employer must be in violation of a specific state or Federal law (statute), regulation or constitutional provision. Otherwise, you are not generally protected from discrimination, however unfair or unethical it may seem.

For example, if your boss is much harder on you than anyone else for no apparent reason, while it might be unethical behavior for a boss, it’s not discrimination by law. But if he or she is extra hard on you for a reason that’s protected by law, such as your religion, age or sex, then its illegal discrimination, especially if you suffer damage such as getting passed over for a well-deserved raise or promotion.

In a plan to have a global restructuring, medical device maker Medtronics is cutting jobs this year. CNNMoney.com reports that Medtronic plans to reduce its workforce by 1,100 jobs. Medtronic Spokeswoman Marybeth Thorsgaard said that the jobs to be cut will come from the company’s businesses that have stopped experiencing growth.

The Minneapolis-based company employs around 39,000 workers worldwide, 60 percent of them are in the United States while 40 percent are overseas. While the planned job cut is not at all shocking given the state of the U.S. economy, this job cut will surely affect the families of the concerned workers who are still unnamed.

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