Who is protected by employment discrimination laws?

Federal Employment Discrimination laws are intended to protect individuals, meaning, employees or job applicants who belong to certain protective categories, such as race, sex, gender, color, national origin, disability, pregnancy, etc. There’s certain state laws that also extend protection to additional categories of employees. Generally, employment discrimination laws only apply to employers who have at least 15 employees or more. However, there are certain federal laws that also protect racial and ethnic minorities in the formation of contracts, which also includes employment contracts, no matter the size of the employer.