Legal Definitions - employment discrimination

Employment discrimination refers to unfair treatment of employees or job applicants based on their race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, physical disability, and age by employers. Discriminatory practices include bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, compensation, retaliation, and various types of harassment.

There are federal and state statutes that seek to prevent employment discrimination. The United States Constitution and some state constitutions provide additional protection when the employer is a governmental body, or the government has taken significant steps to foster the discriminatory practice of the employer.

Examples of federal employment statutes that prohibit discrimination include:

• The Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits employers and unions from paying different wages based on the employee's sex.
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which prohibits employers from discriminating based on age.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on a physical or mental handicap.

State statutes also provide extensive protection from employment discrimination, with some laws extending similar protection as provided by the federal acts to employers who are not covered by those statutes. Other statutes provide protection to groups not covered by the federal acts.

For example, California has a statute to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and a law requiring equal pay for equal work.

These examples illustrate how employment discrimination laws seek to prevent unfair treatment of employees and job applicants based on their personal characteristics, and provide legal recourse for those who have experienced discrimination in the workplace.