Family Responsibility Discrimination
Family responsibility discrimination (FRD) is a term that the
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and legal professionals
use, to broadly refer to employment discrimination against employees who
are family caregivers.
To put that another way, FRD is employment discrimination against employees
on the basis of their responsibilities to care for family members.
Typically, the underlying and unlawful discrimination
that makes family responsibility discrimination illegal, is on the basis
of sex (gender), race,
national origin or disability.
Examples of the reasons that employees become victims of FRD are listed
below.
- Pregnancy
- Taking maternity or paternity leave
- Raising children
- Caring for sick, disabled or elderly family members
Mothers often suffer employment FRD, because of their responsibilities
to care for young children.
There is no "Family Responsibility Discrimination Law" per se,
that specifically outlaws FRD at the Federal level. Additionally, only
Alaska and the District of Columbia have passed local
laws that specifically outlaw FRD, according to the EEOC at this writing.
However, there are 17 different statutory theories
under which FRD charges and lawsuits have been filed, according the EEOC.
Prime examples of the Federal laws on which such theories were based, are
listed below.
Because FRD-related charges and lawsuits against employers are increasing,
the EEOC issued guidelines in May 2007 to compensate for the absence of
specific, family responsibility discrimination laws at the state and Federal
levels. The guidelines are entitled "Enforcement
Guidance: Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities".
If you reasonably believe that your employer or one of its representatives
is guilty of family responsibility discrimination against you, then you
may attempt to gain relief by filing a charge directly with the EEOC
or a state equivalent, or through your lawyer or
another representative.
The EEOC is flooded annually with discrimination charges.
To better manage its caseload, the EEOC takes on only the most legally-compelling
cases. Subsequently, you might hire a lawyer to
file your charge in a more legally-compelling way than you can. Lawyers
often take discrimination cases on a contingency basis.
Whether you choose to file a charge or consult a lawyer first,
don't wait too long, as a statute
of limitations applies for taking legal action. You or your representative
must file a charge with the EEOC in order to later file a lawsuit, if the
EEOC doesn't file one on your behalf.
Your employer may not retaliate against
you or your representative for filing a family responsibility discrimination
charge or lawsuit, or for participating in related proceedings.
Witnesses, such as coworkers, who testify on your behalf are also protected
from retaliation.
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