If your workplace has between 1 and 14 employees, you must file with the OHR, as only local anti-discrimination law covers DC employers of this size. If not, some attorneys recommend that you file with the EEOC. Filing with the OHR is not required to pursue a discrimination claim directly in court under the DC Human Rights Act. If you don`t have a lawyer, you may want to see if OHR can help you settle your claim without filing in court. Complaints to the OHR must be filed within one year from the date you feel you have been discriminated against. Discrimination in the workplace is the practice of treating a person or group of people unfairly differently from others or groups of other people at work because of their membership in a legally protected category such as race, sex, age or religion. Each state has passed laws and regulations to protect your rights in the workplace: This page discusses workplace discrimination in the District of Columbia. The objective of the Human Rights Office is to protect district workers from unlawful discrimination in employment. Read below to learn more about DC labor law and how the law protects you.
DC`s Human Rights Act is also broader than federal law because you can prove your case by proving that your employer acted in whole or in part for discriminatory reasons, and because you can file an individual lawsuit against your supervisor for “aiding and abetting discrimination.” What if your company is based in DC or has an office in DC, but you don`t work in the capital or even visit it? This law can still protect you! The courts have held that discriminatory employment decisions that take place in Washington DC are subject to the DCHRA even if the employee concerned does not live or work there. In addition, the court may order punitive damages if officers or directors of a defendant company engage in harassment, discrimination or retaliation, or knowingly tolerate or ignore prohibited discrimination in the workplace or harassment by lower-level employees. Sexual harassment is a form of gender discrimination that includes, but is not limited to: Workplace discrimination and sexual harassment can be devastating to employees and their careers. Lawyers in the Employment Law Group® have extensive experience representing employees and candidates who have experienced discrimination or sexual harassment by their employer. The Federal Government, Washington, D.C. and many other states and local governments have passed laws prohibiting many forms of discrimination and harassment in the workplace. A successful complainant in a workplace discrimination complaint may be entitled to: No. An employer may not retaliate in any way against an employee who reports or refuses to engage in anything that the employee has reasonable grounds to believe is prohibited from engaging in discrimination or sexual harassment in the workplace. Prohibited forms of retaliation include dismissal, disparagement, suspension, harassment, threats, or any behavior that would prevent a worker from reporting discrimination or sexual harassment in the workplace. The DCHRA gives DC employees the right to equal employment, job training and career advancement.
Successful plaintiffs may be hired, reinstated or promoted, and may also be entitled to financial compensation, including damages to correct discrimination, attorneys` fees, court costs and civil penalties. Second, the amendment adds “homelessness status” to the list of protected categories in the Act with respect to employment, as well as social housing, housing and other purposes. As such, the amended legislation will provide that an employer “shall not fail or refuse to hire or dismiss a person; or otherwise discriminate against any person in terms of compensation, conditions or privileges of employment” on the basis of an employee`s or applicant`s “real or perceived” homelessness status. For the purposes of the amended Act, homelessness is defined as “an individual or family who does not have a fixed, regular and reasonable overnight stay” under the City`s Homelessness Reform Act. A successful complainant in a workplace discrimination complaint may be entitled to hiring, reinstatement, lost wages, an injunction against the employer, damages for emotional distress, reasonable attorneys` fees and costs, expert advice or administrative sanctions. In addition, the court may order punitive damages if officers or directors of a defendant company engage in harassment, discrimination or retaliation, or knowingly tolerate or ignore prohibited discrimination in the workplace or harassment by lower-level employees. The right to make a complaint is not limited to employees. The DCHRA allows “any person or organization” who believes that there has been a particular case of discrimination in the workplace or a general pattern of such discrimination to lodge a complaint with the Human Rights Office. Employees can also file a lawsuit directly in DC Superior Court. Workers who have experienced discrimination while working in Washington, D.C. can file a complaint with the EEOC at its Washington office at 131 M Street NE. 4th floor, Suite 4NWO25; Washington D.C.