ABA Family Legal Guide

Law and the Workplace

On the Job

Discrimination in the Workplace

Do the antidiscrimination laws protect only women and minorities?

No. The antidiscrimination laws protect all workers from employment decisions based on protected status. Thus, if an employer pays a female worker better wages than a male worker performing the same job, that employer may have discriminated against the male worker based on his sex in violation of Title VII. Similarly, if an Asian-American worker who misses three days of work is suspended but a Caucasian worker who misses three days of work is fired, then the Caucasian worker may have been discriminated against on the basis of race.