What is Job Discrimination?

The beginnings of Job Discrimination:

Job discrimination was first outlined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963, protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older.

Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments.

Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work in the federal government.

Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, which prohibits employment discrimination based on genetic information about an applicant, employee, or former employee.

The Civil Rights Act of 1991, among other things, provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.

If your employer doesn't like you and fires you, it is not necessarily actionable discrimination. The employer must be discriminating on the basis of a "protected category" for the discrimination to be illegal.


The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces all of these laws. If you feel as though you have been wrongfully terminated please contact your Frisco, TX employment attorney at Thering McCarley Attorneys at Law.