What to do if you believe you are being discriminated against

The first thing you need to do is to determine if your case meets the conditions of discrimination or harassment. Discrimination or harassment is defined as treating any member of the University community differently than others are treated based upon race, color, religion, age, disability (or handicap), sex, national origin, marital status and/or veteran status

Not all workplace conflicts meet these conditions. Thus, using discrimination or harassment grievances for cases that do not include disparate treatment based upon race, color, religion, age, disability (or handicap), sex, national origin, marital status and/or veteran status is not a good way to resolve the conflict.

Please check FGCU’s non discrimination policy and complaint procedure (http://www.fgcu.edu/eeo/eeo_03_02.html) to determine if your case meets the conditions of discrimination or harassment.

Even if the situation you are facing does not fit the criteria for sexual harassment, you have a right to resolve it. It may be that the circumstances fit the conditions of sexual harassment (click here) or it may be that this is a workplace conflict that can be resolved using other tools provided by FGCU’s Conflict Management System including direct and assisted communication (click here) and mediation (click here)

In any case, you can always request a confidential meeting with the Ombudsman Office (click here to send e-mail)