Civil Rights Law Checker

Federal civil rights laws can protect people from discrimination and harassment in housing, work, school, voting, businesses, health care and public places. Justice Department

Answer up to three questions to see which federal laws cover the place where discrimination happened, which agency takes the complaint and how fast to file. Every rule links to the agency, statute or regulation it comes from.

Major Civil Rights Laws, 1963 to 2010

For a Title IX complaint, file within 180 days to be safe.

• Federal civil rights laws can protect people from discrimination and harassment in housing, work, school, voting, businesses, health care and public places. Justice Department
• The Fair Housing Act, as amended in 1988, covers disability and familial status along with race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Justice Department

Job Discrimination: Employer Size Decides Coverage

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws against job discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions, transgender status and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. EEOC
• The laws apply to hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages and benefits. EEOC
• A business or other private employer is covered for race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, disability or genetic information claims if it has 15 or more employees who worked there at least 20 calendar weeks, this year or last. EEOC
• For an age claim, a business is covered if it has 20 or more employees who worked there at least 20 calendar weeks, this year or last. EEOC
• The Equal Pay Act covers virtually all employers and bars paying men and women different wages for substantially equal work in the same workplace. EEOC
• A state or local government agency is covered for race, color, national origin, sex, religion or disability claims if it has 15 or more employees who worked there at least 20 calendar weeks, this year or last. EEOC
• For an age claim, a state or local government agency is covered no matter how many employees it has. EEOC
• The Equal Pay Act covers almost all state and local governments. EEOC
• Most labor unions and employment agencies are also covered by the laws the EEOC enforces. EEOC
• The ADA protects people who have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, have a record of one or are seen as having one. It also protects people associated with someone with a disability. Justice Department
• ADA Title I job complaints go to the EEOC within 180 days, or 300 days if the charge is filed with a designated state or local fair employment practice agency. Justice Department
• The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments, to make reasonable accommodations for known limitations from pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, unless that would be an undue hardship. Justice Department
• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 amended Title VII so that discrimination because of sex includes discrimination because of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. U.S. Code
• Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) bars job discrimination because of genetic information. EEOC
• The Justice Department sues state and local government employers under Title VII after the EEOC refers a complaint. Justice Department
• Title VII covers employers, including state and local governments, with 15 or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks this year or last. U.S. Code
• ADA Title I covers employers with 15 or more employees, but Title II covers all activities of state and local governments, including employment, whatever their size. Justice Department
• Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act bars disability discrimination in jobs with federal contractors and subcontractors whose contracts are over $10,000; the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs handles it. Justice Department
• A separate law, 8 U.S.C. 1324b, bars citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing and recruitment, plus retaliation; the Justice Department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section takes charges and runs a worker hotline at 800-255-7688. Justice Department
• That law doesn’t apply to employers with three or fewer employees, and its national origin ban doesn’t reach cases Title VII covers. U.S. Code
• A charge under it must be filed within 180 days of the discrimination. U.S. Code
• A separate federal law, 42 U.S.C. 1981, gives everyone the same right as white citizens to make and enforce contracts, including their performance and termination, and protects that right against private discrimination and against discrimination by state and local governments. U.S. Code
• Other federal laws, regulations and executive orders, which the EEOC doesn’t enforce, bar discrimination against federal workers on bases such as sexual orientation, marital status, parental status or political affiliation. EEOC

Job Discrimination Deadlines

• An EEOC charge generally must be filed within 180 calendar days of the discrimination, extended to 300 days where a state or local agency enforces a law against the same kind of discrimination. EEOC
• For an age charge, the deadline extends to 300 days only if a state law bars age discrimination in jobs and a state agency enforces it; a local law alone doesn’t extend it. EEOC
• When more than one discriminatory act happened, the deadline usually runs from each one; for ongoing harassment, it runs from the last incident. EEOC
• Weekends and holidays count toward the deadline, but a deadline that falls on one moves to the next business day. EEOC
• An internal grievance, union grievance, arbitration or mediation generally doesn’t extend the deadline. EEOC
• Every law the EEOC enforces except the Equal Pay Act requires filing a charge before suing. EEOC
• Under the Equal Pay Act, a worker can go straight to court without an EEOC charge; the deadline is two years from the last discriminatory paycheck, or three years for willful discrimination. EEOC
• A federal employee or job applicant must first contact an EEO counselor at the agency, generally within 45 days of the discrimination. EEOC
• If counseling or mediation doesn’t settle the dispute, the formal complaint goes to the agency’s EEO office within 15 days of the counselor’s notice. EEOC
• Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act bars disability discrimination in jobs at executive branch agencies; employees file through their agency’s EEO office. Justice Department

Housing

• When Congress enacted the Fair Housing Act in 1968, one of its central goals was to bar race discrimination in home sales and rentals. Justice Department
• The Fair Housing Act, as amended in 1988, covers disability and familial status along with race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Justice Department
• Housing discrimination is illegal in nearly all housing, including private housing, public housing and housing that receives federal funding. HUD
• It covers renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance and other housing-related activities. HUD
• Housing providers must make reasonable exceptions to their rules for people with disabilities; a landlord with a no-pets policy may have to allow a guide dog, for example. Justice Department
• Most of the act’s sale and rental bans, though not its ban on discriminatory notices, statements and ads, don’t apply to a single-family house sold or rented by an owner who owns no more than three such houses and uses no real estate broker or agent. U.S. Code
• An owner who isn’t living in the house, and wasn’t its most recent resident, gets that exemption for only one sale in any 24-month period. U.S. Code
• An owner who, after notice, publishes, posts or mails a discriminatory ad or written notice loses the single-family house exemption. U.S. Code
• Most of the act’s sale and rental bans don’t apply to rooms or units in a building with living quarters for no more than four families when the owner lives in one of them. U.S. Code
• Even so, no one may make, print or publish any notice, statement or ad about selling or renting a home that shows a preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability (the law says handicap), familial status or national origin, so a refusal that states such a preference can itself break the law. U.S. Code
• A separate law, 42 U.S.C. 1982, gives all citizens the same right as white citizens to buy, lease, sell, hold and convey property. U.S. Code
• A housing discrimination complaint to HUD must be filed within one year after the discriminatory practice happened or ended. U.S. Code
• Report housing discrimination to HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) online, by calling 800-669-9777 or by mail. HUD
• A person can also sue in federal or state court within two years after the discriminatory practice happened or ended. U.S. Code

Schools and Colleges

• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination because of race, color or national origin in programs and activities that receive federal money. Justice Department
• Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bars sex discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal money. Justice Department
• Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 lets the Justice Department address certain complaints that public schools and colleges denied students equal protection based on race, color, national origin, sex or religion. Justice Department
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 bars disability discrimination in any program or activity that receives federal money, and in programs run by federal agencies or the U.S. Postal Service. Justice Department
• A Title VI complaint to the Education Department must be filed within 180 days of the discrimination, unless the department extends the time. 34 CFR 100.7(b)
• The Education Department’s Section 504 rules use the same complaint procedures as Title VI. 34 CFR 104.61
• Each federal agency that funds education programs enforces Title IX for those programs. U.S. Code
• Title IX doesn’t apply to a school controlled by a religious organization where applying it would conflict with the organization’s religious tenets. U.S. Code

Public Places and Businesses

• Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 entitles everyone to full and equal enjoyment of places of public accommodation without discrimination because of race, color, religion or national origin. Justice Department
• Those places include hotels and motels, restaurants and other places that serve food on site, gas stations, and theaters, concert halls, sports arenas and stadiums. Justice Department
• Title II doesn’t apply to a private club or other place not actually open to the public. Justice Department
• A building with no more than five rooms for rent, where the owner lives, isn’t covered as lodging. Justice Department
• The attorney general can sue when there is a pattern or practice of resistance to these rights. Justice Department
• A separate federal law, 42 U.S.C. 1981, gives everyone the same right as white citizens to make and enforce contracts, including their performance and termination, and protects that right against private discrimination and against discrimination by state and local governments. U.S. Code
• The Equal Credit Opportunity Act bars lenders from discriminating against a credit applicant because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age (if the applicant can legally sign a contract) or income from public assistance, or for exercising rights under the act. U.S. Code
• Submit a complaint about a financial product or service to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) online or at 855-411-2372; it sends a complaint to another agency when that agency is better able to help. CFPB
• ADA Title III covers businesses and nonprofits that serve the public, such as restaurants, stores, hotels, theaters, private schools, doctors’ offices, day care centers, stadiums and fitness clubs. Justice Department
• Title III complaints may be filed with the Justice Department, and Title III can also be enforced by a private lawsuit with no agency complaint first. Justice Department
• File an ADA complaint with the Justice Department online through the Civil Rights Division’s website or by mail, or call the ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301. Justice Department
• The Justice Department’s review of an ADA complaint can take up to three months, and it can’t investigate every complaint. Justice Department

Government Services and Voting

• ADA Title II covers all activities of state and local governments, whatever their size or federal funding, including public education, employment, transportation, health care, social services, courts and voting. Justice Department
• An ADA Title II complaint may be filed with the Justice Department within 180 days of the discrimination. Justice Department
• Title II can also be enforced by a private lawsuit in federal court, with no agency complaint or right-to-sue letter needed first. Justice Department
• Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 bars voting practices or procedures that discriminate because of race, color or membership in a language minority group, anywhere in the country. Justice Department
• The Justice Department’s Voting Section enforces the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws; its toll-free number is 800-253-3931. Justice Department
• A person can file an administrative complaint with the federal agency that funds the program, or sue in federal court. Justice Department
• The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division takes reports of civil rights violations through an online form, and tries to connect a report to the right team or agency when another one handles it. Justice Department

Health Care

• Section 1557 bars discrimination because of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in certain health programs and activities. 45 CFR 92.1(a)
• The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) takes complaints that a covered program discriminated because of race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex or religion. HHS
• Programs that must follow these laws include hospitals, Medicaid and Medicare providers, nursing homes, family health and community mental health centers, pharmacies, and health insurance plans or companies. HHS
• HHS’s Office for Civil Rights handles complaints about programs that receive federal money from HHS, and may handle programs HHS runs itself. HHS
• HHS’s Office for Civil Rights may act on a complaint filed within 180 days of the alleged violation. HHS
• File a civil rights complaint with the HHS Office for Civil Rights through its online complaint portal, for yourself or for someone else. HHS
• An HHS Title VI complaint must be filed within 180 days of the discrimination, unless HHS extends the time. 45 CFR 80.7(b)

Retaliation Is Illegal

• The job discrimination laws also bar retaliation: punishing an applicant or employee for filing a charge or being a witness, complaining to a manager, or asking for a disability or religious accommodation. EEOC
• Retaliation is illegal: no one may be punished for filing, testifying or taking part in a HUD complaint, or for reporting discrimination to a housing provider or other authority. HUD
• Schools and other recipients of Education Department money may not intimidate, threaten, coerce or discriminate against anyone for making a complaint, testifying or taking part in an investigation. 34 CFR 100.7(e)
• Recipients of HHS money may not intimidate, threaten, coerce or discriminate against anyone for making a complaint, testifying or taking part in an investigation. 45 CFR 80.7(e)
• No one may intimidate, threaten or coerce anyone to interfere with these rights, or punish anyone for exercising them. U.S. Code
• The ADA bars discrimination against anyone who opposed an act the ADA makes unlawful, or who made a charge, testified or took part in an investigation or hearing under it. U.S. Code

State and Local Laws Can Go Further

• An employer the federal laws don’t cover may still be covered by a state or local anti-discrimination law, and the EEOC can refer people to the agency that enforces it. EEOC
• The federal age law protects only people 40 or older, though some states have laws that protect younger workers too. EEOC
• Some state laws add protections for pregnant workers, such as accommodations, job-protected leave and lactation rights. EEOC
• Many states and localities have agencies that enforce job discrimination laws, and under worksharing agreements a charge filed with either the EEOC or one of those agencies is automatically filed with the other. EEOC
• The ADA doesn’t limit any state or local law that protects people with disabilities as much as it does or more. U.S. Code
• The Fair Housing Act doesn’t invalidate or limit state or local laws that protect the same rights. U.S. Code
• Title II doesn’t stop anyone from using a state law or local ordinance that requires nondiscrimination in public establishments. U.S. Code

Related GovFacts Articles

• Civil Rights Act of 1964: How America’s Most Important Civil Rights Law Changed the Nation
• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965: A Nation’s Struggle for the Ballot
• The Fair Housing Act of 1968: A Foundation for Equality