What is Employment Discrimination law(U.S)?

 This subset of Employment Law, refers to the laws that protect employees from discrimination on the basis of age, race or nationality, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion or various other reasons. Federal and state statutes make up most of the employment discrimination laws. There are many practices that have been identified as discriminatory, which are legally prohibited. They include demonstrating discriminatory bias in the following work-related activities: promoting, transferring, recalling and laying off workers; compensating, assigning and classifying employees; dispensing fringe benefits; hiring and/or firing employees; recruiting workers and posting job openings; testing; training and apprenticeship programs; retaliation; pay, retirement and disability leave; and various types of harassment. 

There are several federal employment discrimination laws, some very well-know and some less so: 

- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on color, gender, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, and sex, including sexual harassment; 

- The Civil Rights Act of 1991 provides for monetary damages in cases where there is intentional employment discrimination;

- The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) helps protects employees who are 40 years of age or older;

- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Rehabilitation Act disallows discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities;

- The Equal Pay Act addresses unequal pay related to gender;

- The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guarantees time off for specific health conditions, without putting the worker’s employment in jeopardy; and 

- Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) makes it illegal to discriminate based on genetic information about an applicant, employee, or former employee

Most of these Acts are interpreted and enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which also supervises and coordinates all federal equal employment opportunity practices, policies and regulations. 

These laws and policies set out specific procedures necessary to pursue any claims for employment discrimination. One must first file a discrimination charge with the EEOC, or if available, with his local Fair Employment Practices Agency (FEPA), and before pursuing a civil lawsuit, the employee must receive a “right to sue” notice from the agency. Additionally, these procedures set out specific time limits for filing.


Source: HG.org legal dictionaries