Protect Your Business: An Employer's Glossary of Discrimination and Harassment Terms

Employment law acronyms and definitions can be confusing. Navigating the language of federal and state employment discrimination and harassment laws isn’t always easy. This FindLaw glossary explains common terms and concepts to help small business owners ensure compliance and manage risk.

Key Laws and Agencies

These foundational federal anti-discrimination laws and government agencies define and enforce workplace anti-discrimination rules.

ADA – The Americans with Disabilities Act: This federal law protects qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination in employment, education, and access to public accommodations. Violators face fines and other sanctions.

ADEA – The Age Discrimination in Employment Act: This federal law bans age discrimination against workers who are 40 or older. It applies to employers with 20 or more employees.

Department of Labor (DOL): The U.S. Department of Labor is the federal agency responsible for overseeing and enforcing laws related to wages, working conditions, and employee benefits. Many states also have their own departments of labor.

EEOC – The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: This federal agency investigates claims of workplace discrimination and harassment. An employee must typically file a charge with the EEOC before filing a private lawsuit against their employer.

FLSA – Fair Labor Standards Act: The FLSA establishes the national minimum wage, overtime pay, and other basic rules related to employee compensation and hours. It also offers other protections to workers.

FMLA -The Family and Medical Leave Act: This law applies to employers with 50 or more employees. It requires them to provide eligible workers with unpaid, job-protected leave for specific family and medical reasons.

GINA – The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act: GINA makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against employees or applicants based on their genetic information, including family medical history. Some states offer additional protections.

Title VII: Short for Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this law prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It’s considered a landmark for civil rights in the U.S.

Types of Discrimination and Harassment

These terms define the specific illegal actions and behaviors that can lead to a discrimination or harassment claim.

Disparate Impact / Disparate Treatment: These are different types of discrimination.

• Disparate treatment is intentional discrimination, like a policy that says “men only”
• Disparate impact is when a neutral-seeming policy has an unintentional but illegal discriminatory effect, such as a requirement that all applicants must be able to lift 100 pounds despite not being essential for the job

Harassment: This is unwelcome conduct based on a person’s protected characteristic, such as race, religion, gender, age, or disability. To be illegal, the conduct must be severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would find intimidating, hostile, or abusive. It’s also illegal when enduring the conduct becomes a condition of continued employment.

Hostile Work Environment: This involves a work environment where unwelcome conduct based on a protected status (like race, religion, or sex) is so severe or pervasive that it creates an intimidating, abusive, or offensive atmosphere for a reasonable person. This is a key component of most harassment claims, not just those involving sexual harassment.

Quid Pro Quo: Latin for “something for something,” quid pro quo is a type of sexual harassment under employment law. In most instances, an employment benefit, like a promotion or keeping one’s job, is offered in exchange for a sexual favor.

Retaliation: This is an adverse action an employer takes against an employee for making a discrimination or harassment complaint or participating in an investigation. Retaliation is illegal and can include actions like firing, demoting, or creating a hostile work environment.

Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment is harassment with a sexual component. It can include unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. The law protects employees from harassment regardless of their sex or sexual orientation.

Key Legal Concepts and Defenses

These are the core principles, definitions, and legal defenses relevant to discrimination and harassment law.

Adverse Employment Action: This involves a negative action an employer takes against an employee that has a tangible impact on their employment. Examples include being fired, demoted, denied a promotion, or having one’s pay cut. This is a key element in both discrimination and retaliation claims.

At-Will: “At-will” employment is a relationship where an employer can fire an employee for any legal reason (or no reason at all). Firing an employee based on their race, gender, religion, or other protected status is illegal, even in an at-will state.

BFOQ: Short for “bona fide occupational qualification,” it’s a limited defense that allows an employer to discriminate based on a protected characteristic if it’s essential to the job. For example, mandatory retirement ages for pilots for safety reasons can be a BFOQ.

Constructive Termination: Also known as “constructive dismissal,” this occurs when an employer makes working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person would feel forced to resign. The law treats this resignation as a form of wrongful termination.

Disability: As defined by the ADA, a disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, having a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment. Only rare exceptions allow a job to be denied due to a disability.

Major Life Activity: This describes a fundamental daily function, such as seeing, hearing, walking, speaking, concentrating, or communicating. An impairment must substantially limit one of these activities to be considered a disability under the ADA.

Protected Class: A protected class is a group of people with a common characteristic who are legally protected from discrimination. These characteristics include race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 and over), disability, and genetic information.

Reasonable Accommodation: This describes a modification to a job or work environment that allows a qualified employee with a disability to perform their job duties. An employer must provide a reasonable accommodation unless doing so would cause an “undue hardship.”

Undue Hardship: This defense allows an employer to show that providing a requested reasonable accommodation would cause significant difficulty or expense for the business. If an accommodation creates an undue hardship, the employer may not be required to provide it.

Wrongful Termination: This occurs when an employee is terminated for an illegal reason. This can include termination in violation of an employment contract or firing someone in retaliation or based on their membership in a protected class. Wrongful terminations are an exception to at-will employment.

The Legal Process and Workplace Policies

These terms relate to the formal process of a discrimination claim and the internal tools employers use to manage compliance.

Complainant: The person who files a formal claim of discrimination or harassment is the complainant. If the case proceeds to court, the complainant is typically called the plaintiff.

Employee Handbook: All businesses should have a document that communicates a company’s policies, procedures, and expectations to its employees. A well-drafted employee handbook should include clear anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and a procedure for reporting complaints.

HR Department: The human resources department is often responsible for developing, implementing, and enforcing anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies. It also handles employee complaints and investigations.

Right-To-Sue Letter: This is a notice issued by the EEOC to a complainant after investigating their charge. This letter gives the employee permission to file a private lawsuit against their employer in federal court.

Get Legal Help for Your Business

Navigating complex employment discrimination laws and jargon shouldn’t put your business at risk. Businesses facing discrimination claims or looking to ensure compliance should consider seeking legal help from an attorney who knows their state and local laws. A local employment attorney can review your policies and safeguard your workplace against costly claims.