Employment Discrimination
Discrimination
Federal and state laws protect employees from illegal job discrimination. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against their employees because of their race, skin color, religion, gender or national origin. In addition, Congress has expanded protection against job discrimination to age discrimination with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and disability discrimination with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 prohibits federal employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, marital status, political affiliation and sexual orientation.
Retaliation
Both federal and state laws prohibit employers from retaliating against their employees for whistleblowing. The specific law applicable in a particular case depends on the individual circumstances, including the identity of the employer as well as the type of wrongful conduct that the whistleblower disclosed to authorities. For example, the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 prohibits the federal government from retaliating against their employees for disclosing illegal conduct, mismanagement, or a waste of funds. Similar protections cover private employees who report on workplace safety or health hazards under the Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSH Act), as well as corporate whistleblowers who report on violations of federal laws under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Additionally, employers may not retaliate against their employees for exercising their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. So, an employer may face a charge of retaliatory discrimination if it fires an employee for complaining about minimum wage or overtime pay to the Department of Labor.