Unfortunately, discrimination and harassment happens far too often in the workplace. With that being said, there are federal laws that protect workers and job applicants who have experienced discrimination due to their race, color, religion, sex (which includes pregnancy, transgender status, and sexual orientation), age, disability, genetic information or national origin.
The federal agency that oversees and enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC is able to investigate charges of discrimination against employers who are covered by the law. If the EEOC makes a finding that your employer has engaged in discrimination the EEOC will work with you to settle the charge, if they are not successful, they can file lawsuit against your employer to protect your rights.
Employers with at least 15 employees are covered under EEOC laws.
If you have experienced discrimination or sexual harassment in the workplace there are a couple of options on where to go to file a claim. One of them is file a claim with the EEOC with your local SSA office.
Please note that due to the ongoing health crisis, all EEOC offices have temporarily stopped doing in-person interviews. You will need to contact your local office to schedule an office to file a claim.
Here is some more information about the different EEOC offices located in the United States:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington D.C.
- Wisconsin
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
