Employment Discrimination
Employment discrimination: understanding your rights
What is employment discrimination?
Employment discrimination happens when an employer treats you unfairly — in hiring, firing, pay, promotion, job assignments, or other workplace conditions — because of a legally protected trait, rather than your performance or qualifications.
Types of discriminatory conduct
- Disparate treatment — intentionally treating someone worse because of a protected trait (for example, refusing to promote someone because of their race).
- Disparate impact — a policy that appears neutral on its face but disproportionately harms people with a protected trait (for example, a physical requirement that isn’t job-related and screens out a disproportionate number of older applicants or a particular racial group).
- Harassment — unwelcome conduct based on a protected trait that’s severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment. See our Sexual Harassment practice area for a deep dive on this specific topic.
- Retaliation — punishing an employee for reporting discrimination, participating in an investigation, or requesting an accommodation.
- Failure to accommodate — for certain traits (disability, religion, pregnancy), failing to provide a reasonable accommodation when doing so wouldn’t cause undue hardship. See our Reasonable Accommodation Process guide for how this actually works step by step.
Which laws apply to you? DC vs. Maryland vs. federal employment
The specific protections, deadlines, and process depend heavily on where you work and who your employer is.
Washington, DC
Maryland
The Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA) applies more narrowly than DC’s law. It applies to employers with 15 or more employees, and administrative complaints must generally be filed with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights within 300 days. Maryland generally requires you to exhaust the administrative process before filing a civil lawsuit — unlike DC. See our Maryland Discrimination Law for a detailed look at how this process works in practice.
Federal employees
Federal employees follow an entirely different system. You must generally contact an EEO Counselor within 45 days of the discriminatory act — a far shorter deadline than DC or Maryland. Special rules apply if your situation qualifies as a “mixed case” involving both discrimination and an otherwise MSPB-appealable action. See our Federal Sector Employment Law for how this fits alongside other federal-specific issues.
What protected traits are covered?
Federal, DC, and Maryland law protect against discrimination based on a range of traits:
Each trait above has its own dedicated hub page, with jurisdiction-specific sub-pages for DC, Maryland, and federal employees where the law meaningfully differs by jurisdiction.
What compensation or remedies are available?
While the specific remedies depend on which law applies to your situation, workers who prove discrimination may generally be entitled to:
- Reinstatement or a comparable position
- Back pay and, in some cases, front pay
- Compensatory damages, including for emotional distress
- Attorney’s fees and costs
- Punitive damages, in some cases involving egregious conduct
Frequently asked questions
Related practice areas
Your situation may also involve one of these related areas of employment law:
Talk to an employment discrimination attorney
Understanding which laws apply to your situation — and which deadline governs your claim — is often the most important first step. Wilkenfeld Law Office can help you understand your rights whether you work in DC, Maryland, or for the federal government.