Employment Discrimination

Employment discrimination is a form of illegal discrimination in the workplace, treating a worker or applicant on the basis of a legally protected characteristic rather than their qualifications or job performance. In the United States, federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of age, race, gender, sex, including pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity, religion, national origin, or physical or mental disability, and state and local laws often extend protection to characteristics such as marital status, veteran status, or caregiver and family status. It is distinguished from an earnings gap that reflects genuine differences in qualifications or job responsibilities. The discrimination can be intentional, involving disparate treatment of a group, or unintentional, arising from a practice that produces a disparate impact on a protected group even without discriminatory intent. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/