Latinos at Work: When Color Discrimination Involves More than Color

Abstract

Despite being an actionable claim for over 40 years, employers continue to be confused by what constitutes color discrimination and how to address it. This confusion is only magnified by the fact that currently, a large share of interracial color-based employment discrimination claims are filed by Latinos (followed by Asians, and Middle-Easterners). The importation of Latino color paradigms into the U.S. workplace and courts is a dynamic that needs attention and explication for decision makers to navigate appropriately in an era of post-racial rhetoric. Aggrieved employees who are disassociated from notions of race and a racial identification may be more inclined instead to file a color discrimination claim. With the growing color-blind rhetorical disdain for the language of race and racism, developing a nuanced concept of color discrimination more fully may prove to be the key to retaining the efficacy of civil rights laws. Beginning to do so with Latino colorism cases could be the first step.