It is against the law to fire someone because of their race, sex, age, disability, religion, or where they come from. If that is what happened to you, you do not have to accept it. Brett Duke represents employees who lost their jobs for reasons the law forbids.
If things went bad after you spoke up about how you were being treated, that may also be retaliation. It is a separate claim, and often the easier one to prove, because you do not have to prove the discrimination itself.
Not sure which one fits? You don't need to know. Start here, or just tell us what happened.
An employer cannot fire you, or treat you worse, because of:
It does not have to be the only reason. In many cases it is enough that it was one of the reasons.
Almost no employer says it fired someone because of race, age, pregnancy, or disability. Instead it points to "performance," a "reorganization," or a "policy violation." This office's work is showing what really happened, using:
You don't need proof in hand to reach out. Most people don't have it, because employers rarely put the real reason in writing. What matters most is what happened, in order, and the intake will walk you through it.
There is no cost to find out whether this office can help, and no obligation.
Where these protections come from, how discrimination and retaliation fit together, and the questions people ask most.
They come from federal law, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and from the New Mexico Human Rights Act, which in several ways protects New Mexico workers more broadly than federal law. The Human Rights Act calls a firing like this an "unlawful discriminatory practice."
In New Mexico, the jury instructions ask whether a protected characteristic was a motivating factor in the decision. It does not have to be the only reason, or even the main one.
For a disability or serious medical condition, the law protects a worker who is otherwise qualified, meaning able to do the essential parts of the job, with or without a reasonable accommodation. Being fired for asking for that accommodation is its own claim; see fired after asking for an accommodation.
Many clients are fired twice over: once for a protected trait, and again for complaining about it. If you reported discrimination and were then let go, you may have both a discrimination claim and a retaliation claim, and the two are brought together.
There is a practical reason this matters. A discrimination claim requires you to prove the discrimination. A retaliation claim does not. It turns on what you reported in good faith and what your employer did about it, and it can succeed even where the underlying complaint is never proven.
That can still be unlawful. In many cases you do not have to prove a protected trait was the only reason, only that it was a motivating factor in the decision.
Possibly. Who replaced you is one piece of evidence, not the whole picture. The pattern of treatment, the comments, and the employer's shifting reasons often matter more.
Not necessarily. If the discrimination made conditions so intolerable that any reasonable person would have felt forced to resign, that can be a constructive discharge, which the law treats much like a firing.
No. Employers rarely put the real reason in writing, and most people who have a case do not have a smoking gun. What matters most is what happened and when. The intake asks you to set it out in order, earliest first, with dates and with people's own words where you remember them.
Sometimes. The New Mexico Human Rights Act covers employers with four or more employees. Most federal discrimination laws reach only larger employers. The intake asks roughly how many people worked there, and this office sorts out which laws apply.
In several ways, yes. The New Mexico Human Rights Act covers some employers and protected categories more broadly than federal law. Every case is evaluated under both.
Nothing upfront. This office works on a contingency fee and advances the costs of the case. Attorney's fees are owed only if there is a recovery; clients may remain responsible for case costs and expenses.
Fired because of who you are? Tell us what happened. The review is free, confidential, and comes with no obligation.