Legal Question in Discrimination Law in Illinois

Reverse Discrimination

This message does not indicate whether the matter was pursued under state law, federal law, or a combination of both. There is too little information to answer the question, and the matter should be addressed by an attorney in your state who can review the trial record and determine whether you have any options. This must be done within the period allowed for an appeal. You should consult the attorney who represented you at trial to determine when that appeal period expires. Generally, a person is not a member of a "protected class" (as that term has meaning in the context of civil rights law) simply because that person is in a minority in the workplace. Civil rights laws based upon race or gender look to a geographic area to determine whether a particular group has been subject to discrimination historically such that a member of the group is entitled to protection under the civil rights laws. The mere fact that a person is in the minority in the workplace generally is insufficient to entitle that person to relief under the law. If the person is a member of another class or group which historically has required protection from discrimination, then the person might avail him/her-self of the civil rights protections.

Was there discrimination?

Agreed, with the above. Without having read the complaint, answer or ruling, first an appellate attorney would have to ask "was there discrimination"? It IS quite possible for you to have been treated unfairly without having been "discriminated against" in the legal sense. Minority plaintiffs are learning this lesson nearly every time they try to enforce employment rights. That's the result of the courts narrowly interpreting remedial statutes,--the clear result of backlash by people who didn't quite realize that civil rights really mean enforcement of human social rights. They are not just words on the paper or platitudes to be uttered at parties. Minority employees have to struggle to get relief,--which it makes it even harder for the rare, but no less valid, case of a non-minority employee who has suffered discriminated. Of course it happens! But, it's not so simple as filing the complaint and getting to air all of the bad things. The courts no longer allow a jury INFER discrimination from corporate statistical data simply because it might tend to show that discrimination was a possible motivation for salary/benefit, etc. differentials. If your company has no record of discrimination, your area has no geographic history of discrimination against your ethnic group AS a protected class [very difficult to show in reverse discrimination cases], and the proffered statistical data fails to satisfy relevancy requirements in the discrimination context, you will lose that argument. What you are left with is often very little evidence. Don't let this break you though! Get on with your life and continue to fight for equal rights for everyone. Strange as it might sound to you at this moment, the important thing is to get the courts to act on unfairness WHEREVER they see it rather than narrowing the remedies to such a tightly controlled extent that no one can get relief, no matter how much hurt the unfair treatment has caused. I think you did well to challenge unfairness and you shouldn't feel broken, but stronger as a result. Coming from a lawyer, maybe that's small consolation, but having just counseled my own client the same thing, I don't feel silly saying it again: yes, you may have been treated unfairly, but no there isn't always a legal remedy. You did your best and the fact that the court wouldn't allow you to present your case, doesn't mean that you were not wronged, so don't let the fact that the legal case went away make you feel any less about yourself.