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Discrimination comes in many forms. Some of them are illegal, and some are not illegal under current Pennsylvania law. The law protects you from discrimination in the following areas:
Education
Education discrimination can happen at:
- Public and private schools
- Colleges and universities
- Trade, technical, professional, and business schools
Learn more about discrimination in education.
Employment
Employment discrimination can happen in the:
- Workplace
- Job recruiting or hiring process
Learn more about discrimination in employment.
Housing and Commercial Property
Housing discrimination can happen in the processes of:
- Renting
- Buying
- Selling
- Getting a loan
Commercial property discrimination can happen in the process of:
Learn more about discrimination in housing and commercial property.
Public Accommodations
Public accommodations discrimination can happen when someone is denied access to the facilities or services of a:
- Business
- Public place, including local and state government
Learn more about discrimination in public accommodations.
Illegal discrimination must be based on race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, or disability.
Examples of illegal discrimination in education include, but are not limited to, the following:
- A teacher disciplines or grades students differently based on their race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, or disability.
- Students are denied opportunities, such as scholarships or extracurricular activities, because of their race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, or disability.
- A student cannot physically access a facility because of barriers or a lack of ramps or elevators.
- A school refuses to make reasonable accommodations for a student's disability. For example,
- American Sign-Language interpreter
- Screen-reader or another assistive device
- Accommodations, such as extended testing periods or oral examinations
- A school denies a student the use of a guide or support animal for a disability.
- Classmates harass or bully a peer because of their race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, or disability.
- A teacher requests sexual favors in return for grades or repeatedly makes sexual comments to a student.
- A classmate repeatedly makes sexual comments or gestures or subjects a peer to sexually offensive images.
- Qualified students are denied admission based on their race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, or disability.
There are also many things that happen in schools that are unfair but may not be illegal. If it isn't clear whether your situation is illegal discrimination, an investigation will determine the facts as the law applies.
Learn more about education discrimination.
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.
Learn more about employment discrimination.
Illegal housing and commercial property discrimination must be based on race, color, sex, age (40 and over), religious creed, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, familial status (families with children under age 18), handicap or disability, or the use, handling, or training of a guide or support animal for disability.
Examples of illegal discrimination in housing and commercial property include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Refusing to rent to a family with children under 18
- Refusing to rent or sell a home to someone of a particular race, religion, sex, etc.
- Targeting a particular group for unfavorable loan terms or deceptive lending practices (i.e., predatory lending)
- A landlord or municipality refusing accessible parking or otherwise denying access to the housing accommodation of a person with a disability
- Housing advertisements that express a preference for people of a certain race, religion, sex, etc.
- Making references to the composition of the neighborhood in which a property is listed to discourage a home purchase
- Treating one tenant less favorably than others in the terms of their rental or in repairing or maintaining property
- Harassment by a landlord based on race, religion, sex, etc.
- Saying a home is rented when it is still available because the owner does not want to rent to someone of the applicant's race.
- Setting different terms and conditions for the sale or rental of a property due to a person having a disability.
- Charging a fee for a support animal(s)
- Refusing a request from a tenant with a disability for closer parking
- Denying maintenance requests because of age
- Not providing the same services to an individual who filed a discrimination complaint in retaliation for filing the complaint
- Denying a loan request based on race, religion, sex, etc.
Housing and commercial property 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.
Learn more about housing and commercial property discrimination.
Illegal public accommodations discrimination must be based on race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, handicap or disability, relationship to a person with a disability, or the use, handling, or training of a guide or support animal for disability.
Examples of illegal discrimination in public accommodations include, but are not limited to, the following:
- A restaurant owner refuses to serve a customer wearing religious headgear
- A delivery service will not deliver to a largely minority neighborhood but serves surrounding non-minority neighborhoods
- A bus driver refuses to allow a minority person on the bus
- A municipality will not provide handicap-accessible parking to residents with disabilities
- A university does not provide a wheelchair-accessible entrance to a classroom building
- A "private membership" club solicits members from the general public but denies admission based on race or religion
Public accommodations 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.
Learn more about public accommodations discrimination.
If you feel you have been the victim of illegal education discrimination, file a complaint or report a bias incident by:
You have the right to file a complaint if you believe you have experienced illegal discrimination. The PHRC will investigate your complaint.
Discrimination complaints must be filed within 180 days of the alleged act of harm (the discriminatory action or incident).
Learn more about how to file a discrimination complaint.
It is illegal to discriminate against someone because they:
- Opposed illegal discrimination
- Filed a complaint
- Assisted in a complaint investigation
This is called retaliation, and the law protects those who oppose illegal behavior.
Learn more about filing a discrimination complaint.
Learn more about the investigation of a complaint.
After a discrimination complaint is filed:
- The complaint will be assigned a docket number.
- The complaint will be served to the respondent (the person you have named in your complaint as responsible for the alleged discrimination) within 30 days of the date of docketing.
- The respondent is required to answer your complaint no more than 60 days after the date it was served.
- The respondent is required to provide you with a copy of their answer.
You have the right to be represented before the PHRC by a private attorney.
Learn more about the complaint investigation process.
If a complaint is filed with the PHRC naming you, your company, or your organization as a respondent, the PHRC will send the named respondent a copy of the complaint. This is called serving the complaint.
- Respondents have 30 days from the date the complaint is served to provide the PHRC with a written, verified answer and send a copy to the complainant.
- If you are unable, for a good reason, to file an answer within this time, the PHRC may grant you an extension of no more than 30 additional days.
- In no case will you have more than 60 days in which to respond.
Before you sign the answer, make sure it is correct to the best of your knowledge and belief.
- Pennsylvania law provides penalties for persons who knowingly file false answers.
- Failure to answer a complaint may result in a judgment against you.
You, your company, or your organization have the right to be represented before the PHRC by a private attorney.
Learn more about the complaint filed against you process.