Employment Discrimination

Illegal adverse treatment of employees or applicants based on protected characteristics — race, sex, age, disability, religion, national origin, and more.

Employment discrimination is adverse treatment in hiring, pay, promotion, assignment, discipline, or termination based on a person's protected characteristics rather than their qualifications or performance. Federal law protects workers from discrimination based on: race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), religion, age (40+), disability, and genetic information. These protections come from a patchwork of laws — Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Equal Pay Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, among others. Many states and cities extend protection to additional characteristics.

Discrimination takes two forms in law. Disparate treatment is intentional discrimination — a hiring manager who won't hire women for engineering roles, or a company that passes over a qualified Black candidate in favor of a less-qualified white candidate. Disparate impact is unintentional discrimination where a neutral policy disproportionately harms a protected group — a physical fitness test that screens out women at a much higher rate than men for a job that doesn't actually require that fitness level. Both are illegal, though disparate impact cases require proving the statistical pattern and that no business necessity justifies it.

The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) is the federal agency that enforces employment discrimination laws. Before filing a lawsuit, employees must first file a charge with the EEOC (or a state equivalent) within 180 days of the discriminatory act (300 days in most states). The EEOC investigates, attempts mediation, and may sue on the employee's behalf — or issue a 'right to sue' letter allowing the employee to pursue the claim in court. Most employment discrimination cases settle before trial. Remedies include back pay, front pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages (capped by company size), and reinstatement.

Protected Characteristics Under Federal Law

Federal employment law protects workers from discrimination based on: race and color (Title VII); sex — including pregnancy, and since Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), sexual orientation and gender identity (Title VII and PDA); national origin (Title VII); religion, with a duty to reasonably accommodate sincerely held beliefs (Title VII); age for workers 40 and older (ADEA); disability, with reasonable accommodation requirements for qualified individuals (ADA); and genetic information (GINA). State and local laws frequently go further — many states explicitly protect sexual orientation and gender identity beyond Bostock, and jurisdictions like California, New York, and Illinois add characteristics like marital status, political affiliation, and source of income. If you believe you've been discriminated against on a basis your state protects but federal law doesn't, file with your state fair employment agency rather than, or in addition to, the EEOC.

How to File a Discrimination Complaint

  • Document incidents in writing as they occur: date, what happened, who was present, any witnesses.
  • File a charge with the EEOC at eeoc.gov within 180 days of the discriminatory act (300 days in most states).
  • The EEOC will notify your employer and investigate — they may also offer mediation.
  • After investigation, you'll receive a determination and/or a right-to-sue letter (which you can also request after 180 days of investigation).
  • Consult an employment attorney — most work on contingency for discrimination cases and offer free initial consultations.
  • Retaliation for filing an EEOC charge is itself illegal under all the major discrimination statutes.

Example

A qualified Black engineer is passed over for a promotion in favor of a less-experienced white colleague, with no documented performance justification. She files an EEOC charge for race discrimination under Title VII. The EEOC investigates, and the employer settles — paying back pay and implementing new promotion documentation requirements.