Family Responsibilities Discrimination

When an employee’s family responsibilities change — when a child is born or a family member falls ill and requires caretaking — employers often make and act upon discriminatory assumptions, assuming, for example, that the employee will be unreliable or less dedicated to the job. Family responsibility discrimination is an umbrella term for workplace discrimination based on biases about how employees with caregiving responsibilities will or should act.

Discrimination against family caregivers is prevalent, yet there is not yet any comprehensive federal law protecting family caregivers from discrimination. However, many state and local governments have created their own caregiver protections. The District of Columbia Human Rights Act, for example, protects employees from discrimination in employment based on the categories of “family responsibilities” and “marital status.” D.C. Code § 2-1402.11. Under the D.C. Human Rights Act (“DCHRA”), “family responsibilities” are “the state of being, or the potential to become, a contributor to the support of a person or persons in a dependent relationship, irrespective of the number of such persons.” D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 4, § 199 (2008). Pursuant to the DCHRA, your employer may not refuse to hire you, discharge you, or otherwise discriminate against you with respect to your compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, including promotion, because of your family responsibilities. D.C. Code § 2-1402.11. Your employer may not retaliate against you for opposing such discrimination. § 2-1402.61. There is a private right of action under the DCHRA, with remedies including damages and other appropriate remedies such as reinstatement. § 2-1403.16.

Though there is no specific federal protection against family responsibilities discrimination, such discrimination may violate already-existing laws which protect against gender and disability discrimination. For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. prohibits a policy under which the employer admits men with preschool-age children to an executive training program but denies admission to women with preschool-age children out of fear that they will spend too much time caring for their children would be prohibited.  (The EEOC has issued guidance to employers illustrating ways that discrimination against family caregivers may violate existing laws, available here.)  Similarly, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.SC. § 12101 et seq., prohibits discrimination against employees who have a relationship or association with a disabled person. The protections of the ADA could thus extend to an employee who needed to care for a disabled child, spouse, or parent.

We are nationally recognized as experts in this area and regularly publish and lecture on family responsibility discrimination legal issues.

If you are experiencing – or have already experienced – family responsibility discrimination that you are thinking about reporting, or if you have already reported such discrimination and are facing retaliation, contact the experienced lawyers at Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP for an evaluation of your case with no further obligation. You can also look at our useful links page for a list of organizations that also provide information on family responsibility discrimination in the workplace.