What to do about a hostile work environment and unfair scheduling practices?

If you are being subjected to a hostile work environment because of your gender, race, national origin, age- (40 or older) or because you took a protected leave or asked for accommodations for a serious mental or physical health-related condition or because of some other legally protected status you should report it to Human Resources or check your Employee Handbook and report it to the entity it indicates. Be sure you indicate in writing your belief that the conduct is for the protected reason and be prepared to show why if an investigation follows. For example, if you think it is gender say so in writing and indicate your gender.

You will be protected from retaliation if you do this correctly. If you do not believe the harasser is targeting you because of a protected status you may still want to report it, but you will not be legally protected from retaliation or necessarily the conduct. You will also be protected from retaliation if you in good faith reported to a manager or Department with the ability to fix illegal activity you in good faith believe the company is engaging in. If any protected activity you report is not investigated and remedied, you may want to contact an attorney before taking next steps.

Unfair Scheduling could be due to a protected status or illegal retaliation as described above. It is not necessarily illegal. If for example it is done because of your age and you are 40 or older and not to workers significantly younger or not over a certain age such as 65, it could be illegal and you likely have protections if you complain. Of course, the same could be true if you were unfairly scheduled because of your race, gender or other protected status.