Employment Agency or Staff Leasing Companies

In today’s modern world many employees work through an employment agency or a staff leasing agency.  If you have a valid claim of discrimination against your employer you may have one against the employment agency or staff leasing agency as well.  You can have more than one employer under Texas law and the employer who gives you your paycheck is not always determinative of who is your employer.

Types of Discrimination at an Employment Agency

Believe it or not, an employment agency or staff leasing company can discriminate against employees and job applicants. Here are the common types of discrimination that can occur.

• Disability: The law prohibits employment agencies from discriminating against employees and applicants for their disabilities. They are not allowed to ask job applicants about their disability during interviews, such as what type of disability they have. Once an employee has been hired, reasonable accommodations must be made for his or her disability.

• Gender: Discrimination against a person for his or her gender is also illegal. For instance, if there is a clear pattern for an employment agency only choosing male applicants for certain positions, discrimination may be taking place.

• Race: Even in this day and age, race discrimination still occurs in the workplace. This is also true with some employment agencies. If a staffing agency, for example, never recruits applicants of color despite having excellent qualifications, it may be a clear case of discrimination.

• Religion: Discriminating against a person for his or her religion is also prohibited by law. For instance, it is illegal for an employment agency to refuse to make reasonable accommodations, such as allowing a Muslim employee to wear a hijab. 

• Age: While it is legal for employers and staffing agencies to discriminate against a person’s age, it still occurs today. If a staffing agency has a clear pattern of only recruiting younger employees, even though there are qualified older applicants, they may be discriminating against older applicants.

• National Origin: Staffing agencies are legally prohibited from discriminating against applicants and employees for being from a specific country or having an accent. If an agency never recruits applicants who come from different countries even if they have excellent qualifications, discrimination may be taking place.

What to Do If You’re Facing Discrimination

If you believe you are being discriminated against by an employment agency or staff leasing company, you should take action, call Davie & Valdez, P.C.. Here are steps you should take as soon as possible.

• Write down details about the type of discrimination you experienced in a journal. Include who was involved, what was said and what your reaction was.The more details you have, the better.
• Speak to an employment lawyer. He or she can review your case and determine if you have a strong discrimination claim or not.