What Constitutes Discrimination

 

Prejudice is the pre-judgment of people or things based solely on their membership in a social group. A person may be prejudiced without ever discriminating. Discrimination is acting on the prejudice.

The definition of discrimination is "the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people."  

We need to understand what actions are illegal.

Unlawful discrimination is the intentional process of denying a person his or her equal opportunity for employment or advancement because of their membership in one or more of the Protected Classes.

There are also unintentional forms of discrimination that can be illegal. Written tests, educational requirements, and height/weight requirements could all be unintentionally discriminatory if they screen out more members of a protected class and are not justified by business necessity. When an employer learns that the policy is discriminatory, the employer must change the policy or determine that it is justified by business necessity.