Is This Considered Discrimination?

We recently brought in a new manager at work, who has drastically cut hours, making the claim that we simply don't have money for payroll. However, despite not having money, she has begun looking for new hires. Another co worker claims that this is technically discrimination, but I am not sure. Maybe this is a silly question, but is this situation in fact one of discrimination? Or should I tell my coworker that they need to back down about this particular subject. She's been discriminatory about religion, so it's not as though she's totally clean otherwise, but I don't want my coworker to get into a mess because he reported her for something that isn't actually discrimination.