Federal and state laws protect employees from workplace discrimination and harassment. Because working is so fundamental to most Americans’ lives, legislatures want to ensure that employees can work in a safe and fair environment.

The law does not protect all forms of discrimination. However, there are several basis of discrimination that does violate the law. Employees are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, age, and disability.

Federal Law prevents employees from discriminating against employees based on age. To succeed on an age discrimination case, the employee must prove that the employer took an adverse employment action against them, which can include hiring, training, benefits, compensation, promotion, firing, layoffs and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment.

Disability discrimination is governed by The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In order to combat the widespread discrimination against the disabled, the ADA prevents employers from discriminating against the disabled and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees.

Employers are also prohibited from sexually harassing employees on the job. Employers also cannot encourage or allow other employees to sexually harass employees.

To succeed on a gender based discrimination claim, an individual must prove that an employee made an adverse decision in hiring, advancement, transfer, pay, benefits or other employment-related conditions. The employer will always say that the adverse decision was a business judgment, so the employee will have to prove the employer’s stated reason was a mere pretext to cover up the discriminatory motive.

If you have experienced workplace discrimination contact an employment law attorney immediately. Employers will always find a lawful reason as to why they performed a specific action, such as poor work performance, insubordination, and other reasons. Thus, an attorney will research the case and highlight the facts to disprove the employer’s articulated reason, to strengthen your claim of discrimination.