Workplace Discrimination: What Counts and What Doesn't

Discrimination law protects specific characteristics, not general fairness. A boss can be inconsistent, play favorites, or make bad decisions without breaking the law — the line is crossed when decisions about hiring, pay, discipline, or firing are based on race, color, sex (including pregnancy and sexual orientation), religion, national origin, age (40 and over), disability, or genetic information.

Two main types of claims

Disparate treatment is direct: someone is treated worse because of a protected trait, like being passed over for promotion because of their age. Disparate impact is more subtle: a policy that looks neutral on its face but falls much harder on one protected group than another, such as a physical test that disqualifies a much higher share of women applicants without a clear job-related reason for the requirement.

Harassment is its own category

Harassment becomes illegal when it's based on a protected characteristic and is either severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment, or when submitting to it is made a condition of employment or advancement. A single offensive joke usually isn't enough on its own; a pattern of conduct, or one sufficiently serious incident, can be.

Building a record

Discrimination is rarely announced outright, so claims usually rest on circumstantial evidence: how similarly situated employees outside the protected group were treated, whether the stated reason for a decision shifted over time, and whether there's a documented pattern rather than a single incident. Reporting internally, in writing, when something happens also creates a record and can matter for a later retaliation claim if things get worse afterward.