Wife Being Discriminated At Work For Not Being A Certain Ethnicity

Location: New York. My wife has worked for an educational organization for a few years. Over the last 6 months, her boss, who is the director of the organization, has been bullying and harassing her to the point of coming home upset almost every night.

One of the big points of contention seems to be that the program that my wife oversees is strictly for students of a particular ethnicity, which her boss is, but my wife is not.

Her boss has made comments about how they would prefer someone "who is of the same heritage as the students," both to my wife directly, as well as with several co-workers who have shared these uncomfortable conversations with my wife. We have nothing in written communication, however.

Other employees, including managers, have said that they can't believe how my wife is being treated, as she has consistently been one of the top performers in the organization and has received praise from supervisors and colleagues that she works with throughout the state.

My wife has begun documenting these instances of bullying, discrimination, and borderline inappropriate comments and actions that her boss has taken, including changing rules for PTO on the fly and writing up my wife for infractions. It is really a toxic situation. We are wondering about possible legal action - especially if her boss tries to fire her, which they appear to be setting up to do.

Do we have a case for discrimination? Should we consult with an attorney? Please let me know what our next steps should be.