Is an American born citizen protected against discrimination if he/she is a minority in the workplace?

[debbiecf9]

I work in a tech department, where the primary language in the office is Chinese (nearly entire department is Chinese).
 
I joined the company a few months ago, and was put on a project where I was the only non-Chinese team member.  I was excluded from meetings and training because I don’t know Chinese, not given the same access to information as my counterparts, completely ignored by the project lead, and eventually removed from the project and put on a project that has no growth opportunity to eliminate the need for them to speak English on the project. 

I have a colleague at a different company in the same industry who is going though a similar situation.

I can’t believe this is legal!

[Oceander]

It might be, or it might not be.  Discrimination cases are notoriously hard to prove and are extremely sensitive to the actual facts.  If you think you may want to sue, you need to speak with an attorney who litigates these types of cases. 

[don-o]

What due diligence did you do when checking out your  company? What was attractive about going to work for it?

[ABX]

I pretty much agree with Oceander. I would speak to an attorney, not get legal advice off the internet. My general thought would be to ask if there was a reasonable expectation set up front of language or knowledge requirements or the ability to adapt to said situations. From the little information you gave, this doesn't appear to be an issue of discrimination against a minority (ethnic wise) but about putting you in a role where your knowledge didn't meet the requirements and team dynamic.