Allright I have the following Scenario for you guys. It is a real life scenario and I am a bit frustrated and confused if this is discrimination.

Scenraio
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I'm 6'9" tall (this may play something in the scenario). I work at a store that creates glasses in about an hour. Now they have an earn as you learn program (3 programs total) where you recieve a raise for each program completed. I have completed these programs within 2 months of working for this company. Now I have been with them for 8+ months and have been consistently asking when these raises will be distributed to me. They just tell me to go talk to some other manager working in the store. Now they hired a new person who has been working with us for almost 2 months. He is a friend of the assistant manager, he has just completed one of his "earn as you learn" programs and has already recieved a raise. Seeing as I have completed all 3 and according to company policy, I am supposed to recieve my pay right after each program, can this be counted as discrimination against me?

More proof that I feel I am being discriminated:
`) Being tall, I am the only one that is allowed to change the bulbs. Nobody has touched a single light bulb in the 8+ months I have worked and whenever something goes down I am always called upon to fix it.
2) I signed up to become a lab techinician and now the company wants me to paint the entire laboratory. I have no clue how to paint and it is not in my resume. They are still paying me fairly low wages and wish to pay me those wages while I paint. I have told them that I do not paint and they have kept insisting (almost to a point where it sounds like a threat) that I have to paint the lab.
3) My aunt is one of the managers there. Whenever I ask for more hours (seeing as how I only recieve 12 hours/week), she replies by saying, "If I give you more hours, then the other technicians will think that I am favoring you because I am your aunt". Keep in mind that the other techinicans get 30-35 hours/week which is well above the full time amount that they call upon. They also make excuses that they need to cut hours due to bad economic stature, but yet they hired the new person and cut my hours in half and left everybody else's hours the same.
4) Staying with the hour amount, I have seen the other older technicians argue whenever their hours have gotten lowered. The managers theory is that hours should be given by seniority and not by how much one works.
5) Whenever there is a lab inspection, they always call upon me to clean up the entire lab and then tell me "see we got you some hours". I am one of the three people who actually do cleaning up on the lab.
6) What they think about me? They all supposedly "love me" and want to "clone me" because I do a great job and nobody has ever learned how to create glasses so quickly as I have. They always supposedly talk good things to the head people about me (I do not believe this).
7) I have asked for a transfer out of that location and they said ok but have yet to transfer me.
8) The older lab technicians do not have to clean, manage the machines, and recieve more hours & breaks than me even when they are not taking an official break they just talk around in the lab while I have to do all the work.

With all of this in mind, I think that they are highly abusing my height, strenght, and knowledge and letting the other older lab techinicians get a free ride out of me. I have insisted on my raises so I could pay for my additional help for client support since I work and go to college to recieve a double major in E-Commerce and Networking and a minor in Telecommunications. They have still just played a little game of "talk to him" or "talk to her" or even "Don't worry it's been taken care of". I like what I do, but enough is enough. This abuse has gone too far. They refuse to look at how one works instead they believe that seniority gets the majority. This is almost like a one night stand, they use me and leave but instead it has become weekly game I must play with them.

Do you think this is an obvious case of discrimination against me? Can I purue a lawsuit? If so, how much are good lawyers because big companies have big lawyers :laugh: This company is very large and according to the rules they have set, they seem to try and bend them in order to deprive me of what is rightfully mine (my raises).

Expert advice: Play basketball instead.

Please send $5 as my consultation fee to Paypal account: goldendeer1@msn.com or I might just discriminate you as just another bum trying to get a free ride.

Thank you.

:laugh: I would if my knees were shot out from playing in the good old days :laugh:. Hopefully I will be playing by next year. Knees are doing a little bit better. Acupuncture cures meniscus tears somehow :laugh:
Also when you say free ride, how am I getting a free ride when they are clearly abusing me? I'm don't have the money or the nerves to deal with the management there anymore so I was just wondering what I should do about this.

Edit:
Also, I love networking and web hosting. I think it is the best industry out there right now (even though it may have flaws with unreputable companies out there). I do not want to give up on such a great industry.

I don't know about other states, but in Michigan there is the Wage and Hour division of the Michigan Department of Labor that handles complaints about being paid in relation to written contracts or policies.

It sounds like you should be able to get those raises backdated. You should probably send something in writing to your office first, but you can probably complain to your state's department of labor.

I'm not a lawyer, and you may want to talk to one to see what your options are regarding the discrimination.

My suggestion is to try and find a new job. At this point, you may not be able to change things or if you do, you will be labeled a troublemaker.

I don't consider your experience discrimination per se, but how does one become a patsy? Well usually it started off innocently enough, then grows into a behavior by the boss, the coworkers and the patsy himself.

In your next situation, be more alert you may be taken advantage of and as firmly and respectively as you can make it clear it will not be tolerated.

I was just joking in my last post......I dont know much about the laws in your country. A option would be to get some good qualification. An old classmate of mine started off as a data entry operator and he got kicked around a lot. He fought back by getting an MBA and now he is an highly paid data mining project manager.

I wish FDC servers is hiring. That would be my dream job. I love doing support and that would be the best place for me to learn about my upcoming degrees. I should try to give them a contact.

It's not your height, it's your stature. You're the hired flunky. They have you around to do the odd jobs. It might be that was the role they needed to fill from the beginning and your aunt knew somebody who needed a job (you). So it's not a case of discrimination. It's a matter of perception. It will be a long haul to change the opinion of those around you (especially if you're much younger than your coworkers). So my advice is to either quit, accept your role or force them to complete the transfer.

If i was you i would talk to the highest up manager at the store (guessing its your aunt ?) act serious and tell her what your telling us.If she doesnt want to do anything about it simply tell the Regional Manager above her your story.Thats why i never recommend working with family,something like this can happen and it if she fires you im sure your family will hold a grudge against her for doing it.But as far as i know they cant fire you for trying to get them to comply with company rules.

Take it to the government or leave :D