Temporary workers are covered by the same employment laws as other workers even though they may be hired on a seasonal or short-term basis. They are sometimes misclassified as independent contractors and denied their rights as employees due to the project-oriented nature of their work.

A temporary employee may file a discrimination claim if their employer discriminates against them on the basis of their membership in a protected class, such as age, sex, race, religion, disability or medical condition, national origin or pregnancy. A temporary employee is usually supplied to an employer via a temporary agency. Depending on the specific facts of a case, both the temp agency and the employer that leased the employee can be held liable for workplace discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act if they knew about the discrimination and failed to take immediate action against it.

A worker’s status as an employee may affect their ability to file various discrimination lawsuits against the employer, in addition to the temp agency. The main factor used to determine the employer’s liability is a “right to control” test. The test is similar to the one used to establish a worker’s independent contractor status. A temporary worker may effectively become a leasing company’s employee for legal purposes if the leasing company is found to exercise significant control over the way tasks are accomplished. 

While getting yelled at by an employer or supervisor all day long may be unpleasant, such behavior does not necessarily provide grounds for a harassment lawsuit unless it falls under a legally-defined hostile work environment. A “hostile work environment” is a legal term that refers to verbal or physical harassment in the workplace against certain protected classes of people.

Learn more on what constitutes a hostile work environment.

There are very specific federal and California employment laws that determine whether an employer’s actions qualify as discrimination. An employee simply experiencing unfair treatment from the employer is not enough to establish a discrimination claim.

Unfair treatment becomes unlawful if an employer discriminates against the employee based on their membership in a “protected class.”

Although it may seem difficult, the very first step in dealing with discrimination or harassment in the workplace is to talk to your employer or supervisor. Make sure your supervisor knows what is happening, assuming that he or she is not the perpetrator. This can take the form of a private meeting or in a note or memorandum. Additionally, you should approach your company’s human resources manager and inform him or her of the improper conduct. Unfortunately, many discriminatory acts go unrecognized and unpunished because the victim is not fully informing the employer that the conduct is occurring.

Read more to see what to do if you feel like you have been discriminated at work.