Protected Categories in Anti-Discrimination Laws

protected categories

There are currently seven categories protected under federal anti-discrimination law: age, disability, genetic information, national origin, race and color, religion and sex.

The EEOC’s authority includes enforcing the following federal statutes summarized below. Unless otherwise stated, these laws apply to most employers with at least 15 employees (20 employees for the ADEA), including employment agencies and labor unions.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person who has voiced a grievance, filed a charge of discrimination or participated in an investigation or lawsuit. The prohibition against sexual harassment falls under Title VII of this act. As defined by the EEOC, “It is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of that person’s sex.” Harassment can include “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.

An amendment to Title VII, The Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination against a woman based on pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition. As in the original law, it also makes retaliation illegal.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) 

Prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in compensation for substantially similar work under similar conditions. In essence, men and women doing equal jobs must receive the same pay. Since the EPA’s enactment, there has been slow but significant progress in achieving pay equity. Although progress has often stalled or reversed, the wage gap has narrowed consistently in recent years. In 1963, women made an average of 59 cents for every dollar earned by men. In 2020, the women’s average had risen to 82 cents for every dollar earned by men.^[1]

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) 

Prohibits employment discrimination against individuals 40 years of age or older based on age. As with other anti-discrimination legislation, the law makes retaliation illegal.

Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) 

Prohibits discrimination against a qualified person with a disability and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with known physical or mental limitations who are otherwise qualified unless that accommodation would pose an “undue hardship” (significant difficulty or expense) on an employer’s business operations. As with other anti-discrimination legislation, the law makes retaliation illegal. This law applies to private sector and state and local government employers only. Disability discrimination protection at the federal level is provided by Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. There are three kinds of reasonable accommodations defined by the EEOC:^[2]

1. modifications or adjustments to a job application process that enable a qualified applicant with a disability to be considered for the position such qualified applicant desires
   • Example: Interviews for a job will take place in a second floor conference room in a building without an elevator. An applicant who uses a wheelchair requests a reasonable accommodation. While installing an elevator would be an undue hardship, moving the location of the interview to the first floor is reasonable so the employer must do that.^[3]
2. modifications or adjustments to the work environment, or to the manner or circumstances under which the position held or desired is customarily performed, that enable a qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions of that position
   • Example: An employee develops a physical disability that limits how much keyboarding they can do. Hiring another employee to take over those duties could be an undue hardship but it would be a reasonable accommodation for the employer to set up assistive devices, such as a microphone and speech recognition software, and train the employee on their use.
3. modifications or adjustments that enable a covered entity’s employee with a disability to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment as are enjoyed by its other similarly situated employees without disabilities
   • Example: The office manager uses a public address speaker system to verbally make announcements. An employee with a hearing disability can reasonably request that the announcements be communicated in writing through email or text so that all employees have equal access to the information.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA)

Prohibits discrimination against applicants or employees based on an individual’s or his or her family’s genetic information or family medical history (for example, a hereditary disease, disorder, or medical condition). As with other anti-discrimination legislation, the law makes retaliation illegal.

Despite the public relations and financial risk of discriminatory hiring practices, charges of workplace discrimination are in the tens of thousands annually. Since 1997, the number of charges has ranged from a low of 75,428 in 2005 to a high of 99,947 in 2011. In fiscal year 2020, the EEOC received 67,448 charges of workplace discrimination charges and obtained nearly $596 million in monetary benefits for victims through a combination of voluntary settlements and litigation.^[4]

Note that state and local laws may provide broader discrimination protections. If in doubt, contact your state department of labor for clarification. Note as well that laws are subject to interpretation. For example, an EEOC notice emphasizes that their interpretation of the Title VII reference to “sex” is broadly applicable to gender, gender identity and sexual orientation. And, further, that “these protections apply regardless of any contrary state or local laws.”

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