Anti-discrimination law

Anti-discrimination law prohibits or remedies unfair treatment based on protected characteristics such as race, sex, disability, religion, or age.

Direct discrimination: Less favorable treatment of a person because of a protected characteristic. It captures explicit unequal treatment, such as refusing service because of someone's race.
Protected characteristic: A personal attribute that legislation identifies as a basis on which discrimination is restricted. These characteristics specify which grounds trigger legal protection.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: A United States federal law prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and other settings. It established landmark federal protections, including employment rules enforced under Title VII.
Affirmative action: Policies that seek to address historical or ongoing disadvantage through targeted measures in selection or opportunity. It raises the distinct question of when remedial preference is compatible with equal-treatment rules.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: A United States federal agency that enforces laws prohibiting workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates charges and brings cases under several federal employment statutes.
Indirect discrimination: A facially neutral rule that disadvantages people sharing a protected characteristic and is not legally justified. It addresses neutral policies whose unequal effects can violate the law.
Equality before the law: The principle that people are subject to the same laws and entitled to equal legal protection. Anti-discrimination statutes give this broad principle specific rules and remedies.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act: The part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits specified forms of employment discrimination. Title VII became a foundational model for workplace anti-discrimination enforcement.
Equal protection clause: The Fourteenth Amendment provision requiring states to provide equal protection of the laws. It is a constitutional route to challenging discrimination, unlike statutory claims.
Equality and Human Rights Commission: The United Kingdom's statutory body promoting and enforcing equality and human-rights protections. It demonstrates how an independent commission can monitor compliance and support enforcement.

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