Employment discrimination and legal protections for workers

Employment discrimination means your employer or prospective employer treated you unfairly in a way that breaks (violates) federal, state, or local law. Many kinds of behavior at work might be wrong or unfair, but to qualify legally as discrimination, the treatment must be related to a specific “protected status.” A protected class or status is a legally protected characteristic. 

A protected class is a group of people with a specific characteristic, like age, sex, or gender (including pregnancy, gender identity or sexual orientation), race, religion, veteran status, disability, and so on. People who have a protected status can’t be targeted for discrimination because of that characteristic. Most discrimination laws include a list of the protected classes they cover. 

Federal law and state law have some of the same and some different protected classes. 

To be considered illegal employment discrimination, the unfair treatment must: 

• Be based on a protected status or
• Have a disproportionate negative impact on one of the protected groups

An employer might be able to excuse certain unfair practices that are job-related and necessary for the operation of the business. For example, requiring employees to be able to lift 40 pounds to work in a warehouse loading boxes into shipping containers is unfair because some disabled people can’t lift 40 pounds alone. But it’s also excused and legal because it’s necessary for the job and is related to the job. It would be illegal if the job posting said, “Don’t apply if you have a disability,” instead of “Must be able to repeatedly lift 40 pounds during shift.”

Employment discrimination protections apply to applicants for jobs as well as employees, former employees, and trainees or apprentices. Generally, the laws also apply to employment agencies and their practices. 

What is constructive discharge?

Constructive discharge is when your working conditions become so intolerable because of discrimination or harassment that you are forced to quit. Courts and agencies treat constructive discharge more like being fired because the unfair treatment forced you into quitting. Constructive discharge is a legal claim that your lawyer can make for you if you were forced to quit because of discrimination at work. Just because you weren’t fired and were forced to quit instead, doesn’t mean you don’t have rights. 

What is retaliation?

Retaliation is when your employer punishes you or treats you negatively because you made a claim of discrimination to HR, your union, other managers, the courts, or one of the reporting agencies. Retaliation can also happen to witnesses, workers that oppose discrimination, or other workers who participate in a discrimination investigation. 

Retaliation is prohibited under both state and federal law. Read our guide about retaliation at work to learn more.

What if I was sexually harassed at work?

Sexual harassment at work is a specific kind of mistreatment that can have legal consequences for your employer. Not all sexual harassment is discrimination but some treatment can be both sexual harassment and employment discrimination. It can be complicated to figure out if what you experienced would be considered legal sexual harassment. Read our guide about sexual harassment to learn more about what legally qualifies as sexual harassment and how to make complaints about it.

Which laws protect me?

If you were discriminated against while at work in Washington state, both federal and state laws might protect you. You can choose to file a complaint with both the state and federal governments, but you should only start the complaint with one of them. If you start the complaint with the Washington state agency, it can be “dual filed” to the federal government agency if you also have federal claims. You might need to tell the state agency that you want to dual file if you plan to do that.

If you work for a tribal nation, tribal business, tribal organization, at a tribal casino, or on a reservation, you might not be able to use an agency complaint or to file in state court. Read our guide about civil rights in Indian country instead. It has information about employment rights in Indian Country.

Local laws might also protect you if your county or city has specific employment discrimination protections. This guide will cover the basics of Washington laws and the federal process.

Your city or county might have local protections too. Local anti-discrimination laws may provide you with more rights. Contact your county or city office to find out if it has a human rights office. If so, contact that office for information about any additional local rights. Your local Labor Board may also have more information.

If the discrimination you experienced was based on marital status, veteran status, or citizenship status, you should file with the state agency because only state laws protect you. You might be able to make a citizenship status related complaint to a federal agency, but get legal advice first.

Farmworkers have special rights and protections at work

If you are a farmworker or work in agricultural production or processing, you have special employment protections. Get specific information about rights and protections for farmworkers from our Farmworkers topic area.