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As a general rule, employers in most states are free to make employment decisions "at will," meaning that the employer need not have a good reason or any justification to deny employment to an individual, or to "fire" an employee.  There are many exceptions to this general rule, including protections offered by federal and state laws.  Some of the more significant laws in this area include:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

• The Equal Pay Act of 1963, which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same workplace from sex-based wage discrimination.

• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from discrimination based upon their age.

• Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and under some circumstances in local governments.

• Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work in the federal government.

• The Civil Rights Act of 1991, which provides for monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the ADA and the ADEA, it is illegal to discriminate in any aspect of employment, including:

• hiring and firing;

• compensation, assignment, or classification of employees;

• transfer, promotion, layoff, or recall;

• job advertisements;

• recruitment;

• testing;

• use of company facilities;

• training and apprenticeship programs;

• fringe benefits;

• pay, retirement plans, and disability leave; or

• other terms and conditions of employment.

• Harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age;

• Retaliation against an individual for filing a charge of discrimination, participating in an investigation, or opposing discriminatory practices;

• Employment Decisions based on stereotypes or assumptions about the abilities, traits, or performance of individuals of a certain sex, race, age, religion, or ethnic group, or individuals with disabilities; and

• Denial Of Employment Opportunities to a person because of marriage to, or association with, an individual of a particular race, religion, national origin, or an individual with a disability.

• Title VII also prohibits discrimination because of participation in schools or places of worship associated with a particular racial, ethnic, or religious group.

Title VII prohibits not only intentional discrimination, but also practices that have the effect of discriminating against individuals because of their race, color, national origin, religion, or sex.

• It is illegal to discriminate against an individual because of birthplace, ancestry, culture, or linguistic characteristics common to a specific ethnic group.

• A rule requiring that employees speak only English on the job may violate Title VII unless an employer shows that the requirement is necessary for conducting business. If the employer believes such a rule is necessary, employees must be informed when English is required and the consequences for violating the rule.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 requires employers to assure that employees hired are legally authorized to work in the U.S. However, an employer who requests employment verification only for individuals of a particular national origin, or individuals who appear to be or sound foreign, may violate both Title VII and IRCA. Employers who impose citizenship requirements or give preferences to U.S. citizens in hiring or employment opportunities also may violate IRCA

• An employer is required to reasonably accommodate the religious belief of an employee or prospective employee, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. This can include providing time off for religious observances and accommodation of other aspects of religious beliefs.

Sex Discrimination

• Sexual Harassment, including direct requests for sexual favors and workplace conditions that create a hostile environment for persons of either gender. Sexual harassment can include same-sex harassment. (The "hostile environment" standard also applies to harassment on the bases of race, color, national origin, religion, age, and disability.)

• Discrimination based upon pregnancy. Pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions must be treated in the same way as other temporary illnesses or conditions.

Sexual Harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.

Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to the following:

• The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee.

• The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.

• Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.

• The harasser's conduct must be unwelcome.

The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex.

• The ADEA prohibits:

• Statements or specifications in job notices or advertisements of age preference and limitations. An age limit may only be specified where age has been proven to be a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ).

• Discrimination on the basis of age by apprenticeship programs, including joint labor-management apprenticeship programs; and

• Denial of benefits to older employees. An employer may reduce benefits based on age only if the cost of providing the reduced benefits to older workers is the same as the cost of providing benefits to younger workers.

A violation of the EPA may occur where a different wage was/is paid to a person who worked in the same job before or after an employee of the opposite sex.

The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in all employment practices. In order to be protected by the ADA, an employee must meet certain criteria, including being a person with certain characteristics, or who has been subjected to certain treatment, or who has sought certain protections. The common concepts dealt with under the ADA include:

Individual with a Disability

An individual with a disability under the ADA is a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment. Major life activities are activities that an average person can perform with little or no difficulty such as walking, breathing, seeing, hearing, speaking, learning, and working.

Qualified Individual with a Disability

A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is someone who satisfies skill, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the position held or desired, and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of that position.

Reasonable Accommodation

Reasonable accommodation may include, but is not limited to, making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities; job restructuring; modification of work schedules; providing additional unpaid leave; reassignment to a vacant position; acquiring or modifying equipment or devices; adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies; and providing qualified readers or interpreters. Reasonable accommodation may be necessary to apply for a job, to perform job functions, or to enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment that are enjoyed by people without disabilities. An employer is not required to lower production standards to make an accommodation. An employer generally is not obligated to provide personal use items such as eyeglasses or hearing aids.

An employer is required to make a reasonable accommodation to a qualified individual with a disability unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer's business. Undue hardship means an action that requires significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to factors such as a business' size, financial resources, and the nature and structure of its operation.

Before making an offer of employment, an employer may not ask job applicants about the existence, nature, or severity of a disability. Applicants may be asked about their ability to perform job functions. A job offer may be conditioned on the results of a medical examination, but only if the examination is required for all entering employees in the same job category. Medical examinations of employees must be job-related and consistent with business necessity.

Employees and applicants currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs are not protected by the ADA when an employer acts on the basis of such use. Tests for illegal use of drugs are not considered medical examinations and, therefore, are not subject to the ADA's restrictions on medical examinations. Employers may hold individuals who are illegally using drugs and individuals with alcoholism to the same standards of performance as other employees.

The "relief" or remedies available for employment discrimination, whether caused by intentional acts or by practices that have a discriminatory effect, may include:

• back pay,

• hiring,

• promotion,

• reinstatement,

• front pay(lost future earnings),

• reasonable accommodation, or

• other actions that will make an individual "whole" (in the conditions/he would have been but for the discrimination).

Remedies also may include payment of:

• attorneys' fees,

• expert witness fees, and

• court costs.

Under most EEOC-enforced laws, compensatory and punitive damages also may be available where intentional discrimination is found. Damages may be available to compensate for actual monetary losses, for future monetary losses, and for mental anguish and inconvenience. Punitive damages also may be available if an employer acted with malice or reckless indifference. Punitive damages are not available against the federal, state or local governments.

In cases concerning reasonable accommodation under the ADA, compensatory or punitive damages may not be awarded to the charging party if an employer can demonstrate that "good faith" efforts were made to provide reasonable accommodation.

The employer also may be required to take corrective or preventive actions to cure the source of the identified discrimination and minimize the chance of its recurrence, as well as discontinue the specific discriminatory practices involved in the case.

In addition to the laws described above, there are protections found in state law and protections afforded by employee handbooks and various principles of civil law including the law of contracts.

Under Colorado Revised Statute 24-34-402, certain employment practices are considered discriminatory or unfair and are prohibited. Under that statute, it is a discriminatory or unfair employment practice:

(a) For an employer to refuse to hire, to discharge, to promote or demote, to harass during the course of employment, or to discriminate in matters of compensation against any person otherwise qualified because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry; but, with regard to a disability, it is not a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice for an employer to act as provided in this paragraph (a) if there is no reasonable accommodation that the employer can make with regard to the disability, the disability actually disqualifies the person from the job, and the disability has a significant impact on the job. For purposes of this paragraph (a), "harass" means to create a hostile work environment based upon an individual's race, national origin, sex, disability, age, or religion. Notwithstanding the provisions of this paragraph (a), harassment is not an illegal act unless a complaint is filed with the appropriate authority at the complainant's workplace and such authority fails to initiate a reasonable investigation of a complaint and take prompt remedial action if appropriate.

(b) For an employment agency to refuse to list and properly classify for employment or to refer an individual for employment in a known available job for which such individual is otherwise qualified because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry or for an employment agency to comply with a request from an employer for referral of applicants for employment if the request indicates either directly or indirectly that the employer discriminates in employment on account of disability, race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry; but, with regard to a disability, it is not a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice for an employment agency to refuse to list and properly classify for employment or to refuse to refer an individual for employment in a known available job for which such individual is otherwise qualified if there is no reasonable accommodation that the employer can make with regard to the disability, the disability actually disqualifies the applicant from the job, and the disability has a significant impact on the job;

(c) For a labor organization to exclude any individual otherwise qualified from full membership rights in such labor organization, or to expel any such individual from membership in such labor organization, or to otherwise discriminate against any of its members in the full enjoyment of work opportunity because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry;

(d) For any employer, employment agency, or labor organization to print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement, or publication, or to use any form of application for employment or membership, or to make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment or membership which expresses, either directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination as to disability, race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry or intent to make any such limitation, specification, or discrimination, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification or required by and given to an agency of government for security reasons;

(e) For any person, whether or not an employer, an employment agency, a labor organization, or the employees or members thereof:

(I) To aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any act defined in this section to be a discriminatory or unfair employment practice;

(II) To obstruct or prevent any person from complying with the provisions of this part 4 or any order issued with respect thereto;

(III) To attempt, either directly or indirectly, to commit any act defined in this section to be a discriminatory or unfair employment practice;

(IV) To discriminate against any person because such person has opposed any practice made a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice by this part 4, because he has filed a charge with the commission, or because he has testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing conducted pursuant to parts 3 and 4 of this article;

(f) For any employer, labor organization, joint apprenticeship committee, or vocational school providing, coordinating, or controlling apprenticeship programs or providing, coordinating, or controlling on-the-job training programs or other instruction, training, or retraining programs:

(I) To deny to or withhold from any qualified person because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry the right to be admitted to or participate in an apprenticeship training program, an on-the-job training program, or any other occupational instruction, training, or retraining program; but, with regard to a disability, it is not a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice to deny or withhold the right to be admitted to or participate in any such program if there is no reasonable accommodation that can be made with regard to the disability, the disability actually disqualifies the applicant from the program, and the disability has a significant impact on participation in the program;

(II) To discriminate against any qualified person in pursuit of such programs or to discriminate against such a person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of such programs because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry;

(III) To print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement, or publication, or to use any form of application for such programs, or to make any inquiry in connection with such programs which expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination as to disability, race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, or ancestry or any intent to make any such limitation, specification, or discrimination, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification;

(g) For any private employer to refuse to hire, or to discriminate against, any person, whether directly or indirectly, who is otherwise qualified for employment solely because the person did not apply for employment through a private employment agency; but an employer shall not be deemed to have violated the provisions of this section if such employer retains one or more employment agencies as exclusive suppliers of personnel and no employment fees are charged to an employee who is hired as a result of having to utilize the services of any such employment agency;

(h) (I) For any employer to discharge an employee or to refuse to hire a person solely on the basis that such employee or person is married to or plans to marry another employee of the employer; but this subparagraph (I) shall not apply to employers with twenty-five or fewer employees.

(II) It shall not be unfair or discriminatory for an employer to discharge an employee or to refuse to hire a person for the reasons stated in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (h) under circumstances where:

(A) One spouse directly or indirectly would exercise supervisory, appointment, or dismissal authority or disciplinary action over the other spouse;

(B) One spouse would audit, verify, receive, or be entrusted with moneys received or handled by the other spouse; or

(C) One spouse has access to the employer's confidential information, including payroll and personnel records.

(2) Notwithstanding any provisions of this section to the contrary, it is not a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice for the division of employment and training of the department of labor and employment to ascertain and record the disability, sex, age, race, creed, color, or national origin of any individual for the purpose of making such reports as may be required by law to agencies of the federal or state government only. Said records may be made and kept in the manner required by the federal or state law, but no such information shall be divulged by said division or department to prospective employers as a basis for employment, except as provided in this subsection.

(3) Nothing in this section shall prohibit any employer from making individualized agreements with respect to compensation or the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment for persons suffering a disability if such individualized agreement is part of a therapeutic or job-training program of no more than twenty hours per week and lasting no more than eighteen months.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, it shall not be a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice with respect to age:

(a) To take any action otherwise prohibited by this section if age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular employer or where the differentiation is based on reasonable factors other than age; or

(b) To observe the terms of a bona fide seniority system or any bona fide employee benefit plan, such as a retirement, pension, or insurance plan, which is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of this section; except that, unless authorized in paragraph (a) of this subsection (4), no such employee benefit plan shall require or permit the involuntary retirement of any individual because of the age of such individual; or

(c) To compel the retirement of any employee who is sixty-five years of age or older and under seventy years of age and who, for the two-year period immediately before retirement, is employed in a bona fide executive or a high policy-making position if such employee is entitled to an immediate no forfeitable annual retirement benefit from a pension, profit-sharing, savings, or deferred compensation plan, or any combination of such plans, of the employer of such employee and if such plan equals, in the aggregate, at least forty-four thousand dollars; or

(d) To discharge or otherwise discipline an individual for reasons other than age.

Under other Colorado statutory and case law, it can be an illegal employment practice to make employment decisions based upon;

Employers can be required to abide by their own employment policies, both written and verbal.

Additionally, there are a wide range of laws dealing with wage and hour issues, leaves, trade secrets, non-competition agreements and other employment related issues

See Also:

• Criminal Defense

• Employment Law

• Civil Rights

• Business Disputes & Civil Litigation

• Personal Injury & Torts