The Online Guide to Employment Discrimination

Employment Discrimination can be defined as an occasion that an employer uses a person’s race, nationality, age, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, or disabilities against them when making employment decisions. Employment discrimination can also occur after a person has been employed with a company.  While the practice is illegal, it is very common, especially in small businesses and companies that are privately owned.  The reasons that employers engage in this type of behavior usually comes down to fear or personal ignorance. The potential, or current management fears that a prospective employee's personal status will get in the way of operations, or might cost them more money. Sometimes management might be challenged in separating their personal beliefs against a person from the professional task at hand.

Up to 100,000 claims against employment discrimination are filed each year in various categories.  There are laws, such as Title VII, that protect U.S. workers in the event that they’ve been discriminated against. The information below gives examples of various types of discrimination, what to do if a person has been injured in this way, and what responsibilities employers have to keep their workplaces free of this crime.  

 Facts Sheet and Statistics

• Civil Justice Center: This is a PDF chart about the statistics regarding various charges of employment discrimination

• EEOC Statistics: The government offers its statistics.

• No Fear Act Statistics: This discusses the No Fear Act, and gives links for statistics at the bottom of the page.

• Privacy Rights: This facts sheet discusses how employment discrimination might be used in employment background checks.

• Legal Aid Society: This fact sheet is especially for low income workers.

 Employment Discrimination

• Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Questions and Answers: An overview to job discrimination laws and practices.

• Sexual Harassment Definitions: This give a clear definition of this type of harassment, how it affect one’s employment status.

• Your Rights Regarding Age Discrimination: This is an FAQ page that gives guidance about what age discrimination is, and what to do if one faces this issue.

• Your Rights During Pregnancy: This is a fact sheet regarding the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

• Federal Protections Against National Origin Discrimination: This information comes from the U.S. Department of Justice

• Americans With Disabilities Act Q and A: This is an exhaustive list of all things pertaining to the ADA act.

• Religion In the Workplace: This article discusses the issue of dealing with this issue.

Employer Responsibilities

• What Can Employers Do?: This is a short article regarding what employers can do to protect their workplaces from discrimination.

• Workplace Discrimination Prevention: The site offers links regarding how an employer should legally protect their workplaces.

• Illegal Interview Questions: This PDF chart details the legal and illegal questions to ask on an interview.

• 38 Illegal, Sensitive, and Stupid Questions:  This Washington Post Article discusses this issue.

 Laws

• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:  This gives direction on federal policies against employment discrimination.

• HG.org: This is a legal directory page that also has links and information regarding employment discrimination legislation.

• Cornell University Law School: This page gives an overview to the various legislation regarding the topic.

• ADA Compliance: The ADA Compliance Alliance ensures that ADA standards are being met.

• Center For Psychiatric Rehabilitation: The site discusses when ADA was signed into law, and how it covers employees with psychiatric disabilities.

How To File An Employment Discrimination Charge

• Women Employed.org: This is a PDF file for filing a discrimination charge at work.

• National Mental Health Information Center: Information on how to file an ADA complaint.

• The Law And Your Job: This article is from the American Bar Association.

• State By State Anti-discrimination Laws: This information is unique to discrimination experienced by women in the workplace.