What types of discrimination are prohibited by employment discrimination law?

Under the law in Washington, employers are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of certain characteristics. Generally, employment discrimination is prohibited based on race, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and marital status. Specifically, employers are prohibited from making decisions about hiring, firing, promotions, raises, or other job decisions based on any of these characteristics. This means that an employer cannot refuse to hire, promote, or pay an employee differently based on their age, race, gender, or other protected characteristics. Employers also cannot create different policies or require different job duties for people based on protected characteristics. For example, requiring a woman to wear different clothing than a man when performing the same job is unlawful. In addition, employers are also prohibited from creating a hostile work environment, which is defined as any behavior by an employer or co-worker that is based on a protected characteristic and creates an unwelcome and intimidating environment. Examples of unlawful behavior include language that disparages a person’s race or gender, unwelcome or unwanted physical contact, or other harassing conduct. Finally, employers cannot retaliate against an employee for filing a discrimination claim or participating in an investigation of a discrimination claim. Retaliation includes behavior such as terminating, demoting, or harassing an employee as a result of such participation.

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