Employment discrimination can happen in the:
- Workplace
- Job recruiting or hiring process
Discrimination can happen when employment decisions about hiring, layoffs, pay, or other work terms or conditions are based on factors other than qualifications or job performance.
The actions of a boss, supervisor, or coworker may be discriminatory, but a specific person is not always the offender. A company's policies or practices or the way they are applied may also be discriminatory.
In employment discrimination, Pennsylvania law applies to companies with four or more employees and does not apply to federal agencies, law enforcement agencies, and certain other entities.
Illegal employment discrimination must be based on race, color, sex, age (over 40), religious creed, national origin, ancestry, having a GED rather than a high school diploma, handicap or disability, relationship to a person with a disability, or the use of a guide or support animal for disability.
Examples of illegal discrimination in employment include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Firing or demoting someone based on factors other than job performance, such as race, color, sex, age (over 40), religious creed, national origin, ancestry, having a GED rather than a high school diploma, handicap or disability, relationship to a person with a disability, or the use of a guide or support animal for disability.
- Lowering someone's pay or paying them less than a coworker with a comparable job, if the pay difference is based on their race, color, sex, age (over 40), religious creed, national origin, ancestry, having a GED rather than a high school diploma, handicap or disability, relationship to a person with a disability, or the use of a guide or support animal for disability.
- Applying a policy that negatively affects one group of people more than others. For example, a policy that:
- Hurts only women or only men
- Hurts a minority group or people of a specific religion or national origin
- Offering different discipline, work terms, conditions, benefits, or pay to one group and not another.
- Refusing to make reasonable accommodations for a worker with a disability
Employment discrimination also includes:
- Discriminatory job advertisements
- Racial harassment
- Sexual harassment
- Unequal pay
- Age discrimination
- Pregnancy discrimination
- Many other examples
Employment discrimination based on other factors may be unfair or unethical but not specifically prohibited by law. If it isn’t clear whether your situation is illegal discrimination, an investigation will determine the facts as the law applies.
If you feel you have been the victim of illegal employment discrimination, file a complaint or report a bias incident by:
The following form may also be used to file an employment discrimination complaint. Please download and complete the questionnaire and email it to PHRC@pa.gov or print and return it by mail to your closest regional office.
If your complaint is disability-related, complete and submit the following form to authorize the release of information related to your disability to PHRC investigators: