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Thread: What can you do when you've obviously been discriminated against?

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    Default What can you do when you've obviously been discriminated against?

    I participate in clinical studies. I tried one last year for a while that was for a skin cream. My arms are very weird like that and this actually apart of a lawsuit I have on a study.... They said I was too dark skinned to do their study when the study was a skin cream for the inner arm of skin type 1-3. They included Hispanics many of the time in these studies and needed the skin to blanch and assumed only white people would qualify. As you can see in the bottom photo the skin in my inner arm is a lot lighter. And that's the part they needed. They gave me a chance once and applied the cream and I blanched in the upper inner arm which actually is lighter than the skin showed in that photo. They said I qualified and I went into check in on Friday and they refused to pick me. And all throughout this they asked things that had nothing to do with protocol. Like assuming my hair was a wig or saying the day I came in I had to remove my "doo-rag" when it was simply a scarf and I never got asked this in other studies. After that I was put back in another of these studies for screening and was told by recruiting I was African American and couldn't do the study for that reason alone. I even tried later on to get in a similar study and the lady tried to point out that my skin on my outer arm disqualified me even though they don't put cream there and my coworker who does their studies said he'd be disqualified and so would many men due to having hair on the outer arm. I understand it's out of the norm for someone to tan that much but I'm black so that's what I do. I have tried in the past to use lotions or whatever to stop tanning actually and gotten to that closer color sorta to the point that my identification card didn't look like me so much and had questions with it.

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    Default Re: What can you do when you've obviously been discriminated against?

    I'm no lawyer, but I think you have a claim under section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act. Even though (I assume) you were applying for an independent contractor position, section 1981 can still be used to prohibit race discrimination. You should contact a plaintiff side litigation firm that specializes in employment discrimination suits.

    Edit: I'm not sure, but whether this applies might depend on where in the U.S. you live. Still worth contacting a lawyer to find out.

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    Default Re: What can you do when you've obviously been discriminated against?

    Maybe you could talk to the people in charge of the clinical study and file a complaint against the individuals who made these comments.

    Sadly there are racists everywhere but the wise racists know when to keep their mouth closed and their opinion to themselves. Being overtly racist and ignorant in a professional setting is not good a good look given customers and clients come in all races.

    If you think you have a case for a lawsuit then you'd have to consult with a good lawyer. Emphasis on good.
    “Cook for him like a housewife, fuck him good like a nympho….pay the rent and the car note, he invests in me like crypto”

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    Default Re: What can you do when you've obviously been discriminated against?

    So, section 1981 would apply in this way everywhere in the U.S.

    It's possible that a court would rule that the company isn't liable for punitive damages if you didn't talk to the people in charge before filing. However, for this to be true they should have had and made you aware of a procedure by which you can complain about discriminatory treatment. Did they give you anything to read?

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    Default Re: What can you do when you've obviously been discriminated against?

    To participate in a clinical trial as a research subject, you should have signed an informed consent form and you should have received a copy of it; that document (that usually is about 15 to 20 pages long) must have contact information for the principal investigator (the guy who is in charge of that protocol at that site, and most likely, the boss of that lady) you can complain with him/her, and it is a principal investigator obligation to respond to your complain (as per regulations in almost all countries worldwide); besides that, the consent form has also the contact informtion of the ethics board/review committee; they are in charge of eny complaints like this one that may arise in a clinical trial; finally, you can also complain before the FDA (if you are in the USA), to a branch called CDER. All of these are independent to section 1981 that is still applicable.

    Best of wishes.

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