Fall 2024 Winner of the Civil Rights Scholarship
Ashley Gustafson
Read Ashley’s Essay:
Millennial workers in 2024 range from ages 28-43 and make up an increasingly large percentage of the workforce. With boomers and Gen X aging out of the workforce and Gen Z slowly trickling in as we reach the proper age and finish schooling, millennials are currently the largest block of workers in the U.S. Thus, we should be making information more readily available for this generation as to their civil rights issues and educational strategies. There is never a time in which one person has learned it all. No one is ever perfectly informed, not even business and employment attorneys in this particular matter. We can always be more prepared to defend ourselves and those around us. In fact, it is almost more important to be able to defend others if you have the voice to do so as some people aren’t as comfortable handling injustices or don’t have the tools to take on said injustice. We must all be the voices; and so, I would strongly encourage every millennial employee and employer to become as educated as possible to the rights that they hold and the resources they have at their disposal. The most important civil rights issues that affect millennial workers today include backlash from remote employment, expression, and identity. There are some principal workplace rights that every employee should be well aware of. The FLSA regulates pay, overtime, and minor protection. When it comes to even remote work, these issues are very relevant to millennial workers. The ADA and the Civil Rights Act allows for a workplace free of discrimination and complaint about discrimination without punishment. As it pertains to expression and identity, millennial employees should be made aware of these standards. Additionally, we have the right to request reasonable changes be made to our workspace due to religious beliefs, medical conditions, or pregnancy related medical conditions. Though these changes don’t have to be granted by employers, they must be considered and not punished for asking. So, millennials with these conditions should know that they are allowed to ask. We are all entitled to a workplace free of harassment. When it comes to health and safety, OSHA regulates the standards that businesses must maintain and abide by. If an employee is ever skeptical of their safety or the work conditions that they are in, research through OSHA makes knowledge on the matter accessible. Each employee also has the right to privacy as it pertains to their medical information as well as a right to a workplace free of harassment. I would consider these the most basic building blocks of civil rights in the workspace and would encourage millennial workers to tab each of these laws and websites to their computers in case of employer violations. Two other ways for millennial workers to keep informed and prepared in the case of injustices is to hire an attorney and keep thorough records. By hiring an attorney to advise you, you are ensuring that you have a trusted advisor who knows the law and is acting and offering advice in your best interest rather than the interest of the company. Additionally, they will be able to review employment contracts, edits of existing contracts, mistreatment cases, and complaints that you may have, offering the best steps forward for you in each individualized case. Google and your peers can only get you so far. It is worthwhile to have an expert in your corner. And like I mentioned before, we can’t possibly know everything that there is to know; and so we should be prepared for anything. By keeping track of everything– emails, notes, contracts, etc. – we prepare and protect ourselves in the cases that we need proof to right or to report a wrong.