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You are the only Black architect at a small firm. You’ve been there less than six months and have been working hard. You’ve made some mistakes with measurements and drawings on your projects. You’ve missed a few deadlines, but they didn’t seem critical. Your boss has been telling you to improve and watching your work closely. Today the measurements you share in a meeting with a client are wrong and your boss corrects them in front of the client. After the meeting your boss fires you. Your boss says he can’t keep someone in the job who is making mistakes that could cost the firm clients. You think you are being treated more harshly because you are Black.

  • It depends. Your colour is a part of your identity protected by the Code and you are experiencing the harm of being fired. It is not discrimination for your boss to set standards for the work of the architects in the firm and make sure that clients are served well. If your boss can prove the decision to fire you is based on your performance, it would not be considered discrimination. However, if your work is being watched more carefully and other architects have made similar errors without being fired, it may be possible to prove that your termination was connected to your race, colour, and ancestry, which would be discrimination under the Code.

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