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. For
that reason, family responsibility discrimination is also referred
to as caregiver discrimination.
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
Women, particularly minority women, often suffer employment FRD because
of their caregiving responsibilities. However, because men have increasingly
assumed caregiving responsibilities, they are beginning to suffer more
FRD according to the EEOC.
There is neither a "Family Responsibility Discrimination Law" nor
"Caregiver 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 upon which such theories were based
are listed below.
Relevant discrimination
laws also prohibit discriminatory stereotyping in employment; for
example, employers are prohibited from discriminating against female
employees, based solely on the assumption that women are more likely
to miss work in caring for children than men.
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 or caregiver discrimination
laws at the state and Federal levels. The guidelines are entitled "Enforcement
Guidance: Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities".
In May 2009, the EEOC supplemented its FRD guidelines with the document "Employer
Best Practices for Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities".
If you reasonably believe that your employer or one of its representatives
is guilty of family responsibility discrimination or caregiver 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 winnable 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,
such as your lawyer or a coworker, 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
or caregiver 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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