US Discrimination Law: Who Is Actually Protected?
Discover what groups are protected against discrimination under federal law & who is considered a protected class.
In the United States, discrimination laws are living documents that evolve as society evolves. This means that they shift over time as our culture and understanding of discrimination become more inclusive. Many moons ago, these laws were focused explicitly on race and gender. But over the years, new discrimination cases started shedding light on the many other human qualities that could be discriminated against.
Today’s modern discrimination laws have now outlined a longer list of characteristics that are legally protected. These are officially called Protected Classes or Protected Categories, and they include but are not exclusively:
Age
Disability
Equal pay
Genetic information
Harassment
National origin
Pregnancy
Race
Color
Religion
Retaliation
Sex (which includes gender identity and sexual orientation)
Sexual harassment
Additionally, we’d like to reiterate that any employee from a company operating in the US is protected by federal discrimination laws. That means that even non-Americans working in the US receive federal rights from discrimination laws.
Lastly, please know that you may also get extra legal protection from city, county and/or state discrimination laws too! Depending on where your work is based, there may be city, county, and/or state laws that provide you with even greater protection. Keep in mind, federal discrimination laws provide the floor for anti-discrimination laws but local laws can extend employment protections to workers by expanding the list of protected categories.
If you have any specific questions about protected classes and how to protect yourself against workplace discrimination, feel free to send us an email at hello@exitwisdom.com to get additional resources.
