Discrimination and Harassment

"I was discriminated against and/or harassed"

You have protections against discrimination and harassment on the job and as part of the recruitment process, regardless of your immigration status.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the agency in the U.S. responsible for enforcing federal workplace anti-discrimination laws. To find out more information, visit www.eeoc.gov or call 1-800-669-4000 / 1-800-669-6820 (TTY). You can talk to someone in Spanish, English, and over 200 other languages.

Harassment is a form of employment discrimination and, if severe or frequent enough, is illegal. Federal laws prohibit harassment based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, genetic information, or protected activity (such as filing a discrimination complaint or participating in a discrimination investigation or lawsuit).

The EEOC is the agency in the U.S. responsible for enforcing federal workplace anti-discrimination laws. To find out more information, visit www.eeoc.gov, or call 1-800-669-4000 / 1-800-669-6820 (TTY). You can talk to someone in Spanish, English, and seven other languages. You can also learn more about the charge filing process at https://www.eeoc.gov/filing-charge-discrimination.

To file an EEOC charge, please visit EEOC's public portal at https://publicportal.eeoc.gov/Portal/Login.aspx.

For more information on harassment, visit worker.gov/harassment.

Sexual harassment, including unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature, is unlawful. In addition, offensive remarks about a person's sex may be illegal sex-based harassment. For example, it is illegal to harass a woman by repeatedly making offensive comments about women in general.

Because sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination, you can file a complaint with the EEOC through their public portal.

For more information on sexual harassment, visit the EEOC's webpage on sexual harassment and DOL's worker.gov page on harassment.

Exploiting a person for labor, services, or commercial sex using force, fraud, or coercion is a crime called human trafficking. There is no single profile of a trafficking victim. Victims of human trafficking can be anyone—regardless of race, color, national origin, disability, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, education level, or citizenship status. Human trafficking can occur through psychological coercion or threats of non-physical harm, even without any physical violence or threats of physical harm or restraint.

If you or someone you know is in an environment where labor or sex trafficking is suspected, call 911.

You or someone you trust can also call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888; text "BeFree" (233733); or LiveChat humantraffickinghotline.org.

For more information on reporting human trafficking, visit EEOC's human trafficking resource page.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), a federal anti-discrimination law enforced by the EEOC, prohibits covered employers from discriminating against an employee because of the employee's national origin or race, among other protected characteristics. Title VII applies to individuals working for employers with 15 or more employees. Title VII applies regardless of citizenship or immigration status.

To learn more about the EEOC or Title VII, please visit www.eeoc.gov or call 1-800-669-4000 / 1-800-669-6820 (TTY). You can talk to someone in Spanish, English, and seven other languages. You can also learn how to file a charge with the EEOC at https://www.eeoc.gov/filing-charge-discrimination.

An employer with four or more employees generally may not discriminate against you because of your citizenship or immigration status. U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, asylees, refugees, and recent lawful permanent residents are protected from citizenship status discrimination in hiring, firing, and recruitment or referral for a fee.

You can contact the Worker Hotline of the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) of the U.S. Department of Justice at 1-800-255-7688 if you feel you have suffered one of these forms of discrimination.

You have the right to protections against discrimination based on your sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity). This means that an employer can't discriminate against you because of your sex or because of stereotypes about your sex (for example, how you look, dress, or act). In general, this means that you cannot be fired, rejected for a job or promotion, given lesser assignments, forced to take leave, or otherwise disciplined because of your sex. 

You have the right to file a complaint or a Charge of Discrimination, participate in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit, engage in any protected equal employment opportunity (EEO) activity, or oppose harassment or discrimination without being retaliated against by your employer. 

You generally have a right to protection from discrimination regardless of your citizenship or immigration status, although in some cases, immigration status may limit the remedies that you'll be able to obtain. 

You have rights when it comes to compensation for your work. You have the right to file a complaint or a Charge of Discrimination, participate in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit, engage in protected equal employment opportunity (EEO) activity, or oppose discrimination without being retaliated against by your employer.

Under the Equal Pay Act, women and men have the right to receive equal pay if they perform equal work in the same workplace. Under this law, it does not matter how many employees an employer has, and most employees across both the public and private sectors are covered.

To learn more about the EEOC or Title VII, please visit www.eeoc.gov or call 1-800-669-4000 / 1-800-669-6820 (TTY). You can talk to someone in Spanish, English, and seven other languages. You can also learn how to file a charge with the EEOC at https://www.eeoc.gov/filing-charge-discrimination.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), a federal anti-discrimination law enforced by the EEOC, prohibits covered employers from discriminating against an employee because of the employee's national origin or race, among other protected characteristics like gender. An employer may not engage in unlawful discrimination through their recruitment practices.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII) forbids covered employers from discriminating against an employee because of pregnancy. Pregnancy includes current pregnancy, past pregnancy, potential pregnancy, a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth including breastfeeding and lactation, having or choosing not to have an abortion, and birth control. Unlawful employment discrimination may include discrimination involving recruiters.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) is a new law that requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to a worker's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship.

To learn more about the EEOC, Title VII, or the PWFA please visit www.eeoc.gov or call 1-800-669-4000 / 1-800-669-6820 (TTY).

You can talk to someone in English or other languages. You can also learn how to file a charge with the EEOC at https://www.eeoc.gov/filing-charge-discrimination.

If you are nursing, you may have rights. To learn more about nursing workers' protections, please see: