Favoritism/Unfair treatment of a Team Leader

Majority of the team members are sensing an unfair treatment from the TL. That person has been favoring a team member ever since he appointed that member as his OIC. His basis for appointing that member is questionable as well.

I did have a chance of opening this issue to him. I asked him if there is an opportunity for promotion, is he going to prioritize his appointed OIC? His answer is yes. No matter what position it is, he will prioritize that member. His reason? Because he already trained that member. A couple of members heard that as well since it was a meeting between him and a couple of members concerned about the issue. I believe that we should all be given an equal chance to fight for a position we want. Currently, his OIC has been doing not just "team leader" tasks but also other tasks like acting as a quality analyst (QA). I believe that there are other members of the team who are qualified to do the job of being a quality analyst as well. In emails sent, his OIC is being tagged as OIC/SME (as far as we know it is not official that his OIC is our SME as well). I won't be surprised if in the next email our OIC will now be tagged as OIC/SME/QA.

My worry is that if there comes a time when a position is already available, even if we apply for it, we won't stand a chance since our TL will prioritize his OIC. Aside from this, we have incidents as well related to this issue. As a result, most of us are now discouraged to perform well knowing that our efforts will only go to waste. To cut it short, this issue has developed an unhealthy working environment for us.

Is this scenario what would be the best thing to do to resolve this? Will be there be any legal actions applicable? TIA.

You can try to raise this with your Operations Manager or Director, or even to HR and see if this "OIC" position is sanctioned by the company.

Ask for a skip-level FGD.

But so far there is nothing illegal with his action.

You can try to raise this with your Operations Manager or Director, or even to HR and see if this "OIC" position is sanctioned by the company

I didn't quite understand this. What do you mean by this?

And what does skip-level FGD mean?

When does something like this becomes illegal?