Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia

It does not matter whether your own company's human resources department thinks you have a case or not. They are not exactly objective or unbiased.

You need to contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and file a complaint with them. I know enough about EEOC procedures to konw that they WILL handle your problem. You have to be persistent. I am not saying tha tit is simple or easy. There can be a lot of forms and bureaucratic red tape.

However, they WILL process your complaint and investigate. Just be persistent.

You CANNOT file a lawsuit until the EEOC investigates first.

Note that when you do get a letter from the EEOC, you have only a short time in which to file a lawsuit.

Strangely, the retaliation against you for filing a claim can be far more seroius (or rather easier to prove) than the original conduct.

However, what you describe sounds a little vague. It would be easy for someone to say that you are only imagining it or it is a matter of opinion.

Still, any retaliation is often a "bigger deal" than the original misconduct.

But they are usually looking for retaliation that is more clear-cut, like denied for promotion, given less opportunity, refused any benefits that others get like training, vacation, etc.

Posture and behavior are a little harder to prove and deal with.