Nathaniel M. Glasser, a Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in the Bloomberg BNA Daily Labor Report, in “‘Microaggressions’ at Work Can Lead to Harassment Lawsuits,” by Jay-Anne B. Casuga. (Read the full version – subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

A supervisor asks an Asian employee to help calculate a lunch delivery tip because he should be “good at math.” A manager assumes that a Hispanic worker speaks Spanish and asks her to translate something. A male employee laughs when he overhears two female co-workers discuss football.

These aren’t examples of blatant discrimination based on race, sex, or other characteristics protected by civil rights laws—and may even misguidedly be intended as compliments. But they could land as subtle “microaggressions” stemming from unconscious biases and stereotypes. If they occur frequently enough, microaggressions could lead workers to file harassment lawsuits against their employers.

“It’s possible depending on the nature and the extent of the microaggressions,” said Nathaniel M. Glasser, a management attorney with Epstein Becker Green in Washington. Glasser co-leads the firm’s Health Employment and Labor strategic industry group. “I think what employers first ought to look to is whether the microaggressions are causing a hostile work environment,” he told Bloomberg BNA. …

The word “microaggression” isn’t a legal term. So what is it exactly?

“In today’s lexicon, a microaggression is used to describe a slight, whether intentional or unintentional, against any socially marginalized group or protected group under the law,” Glasser said.

Jump to Page

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.