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Introduction to
Federal Employment Discrimination Law
 

Three general categories of employment discrimination laws

Employment discrimination laws come in three basic varieties:

1. Laws prohibiting discrimination based on membership in a protected class (or group). Examples: employee terminated because she is African-American or demoted because she is a woman.

2. Laws entitling certain employees to special treatment. Examples: Disabled employees may be entitled to reasonable accommodations. Certain employees may be entitled to family or medical leave. Also, affirmative action programs may entitle members of certain groups that have traditionally been victims of discrimination (like blacks or women) to preference in hiring or promotion decisions.

3. Laws prohibiting retaliation against employees who assert their rights under employment discrimination laws. Example: Disabled employee fired after complaining that reasonable accommodations are not being provided.

Beginning below, we will provide you with the most common examples of each of these three types of cases.

1st Category: Laws prohibiting discrimination based on membership in a protected class (or group)

Introduction

Even though most of these examples are self-explanatory, we provide a one sentence explanation. Also, these are not all of the specific types of employment discrimination claims based on membership in a protected class (or group); but these are the most common.

Pre-Employment

Failure to Hire - A failure to hire claim involves a person who is not hired because he or she is a member of a protected group. For example, someone who is not hired based on age, national origin, race, religion or gender.

Case example: In Walker v. Mortham, 158 F.3d 1177 (11th Cir. 1998), a Title VII action alleging national origin discrimination, the court explained that the prima facie case does not require a showing that the plaintiff is as qualified or more qualified than person selected -- or the name of the person selected.

Failure to Rehire - A failure to rehire claim involves a person who is not rehired because he or she is a member of a protected group.

Case example: In Sarullo v. U.S. Postal Service, 352 F.3d 789 (3d Cir. 2003), a Title VII race discrimination action, the court held that the Postal Service did not discriminate or retaliate against the former employee where it refused to rehire him because he had been terminated for selling cocaine on the job.

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