Recognizing a Family Responsibilities Discrimination (FRD) Claim
Caregiver discrimination (also known as Family Responsibilities Discrimination) claims take so many different forms that they can be difficult to recognize when they walk in the door. Your intake sheet would be very long if you tried to include every possible factual scenario.
Here are a few major areas to question potential plaintiffs about:
- Whether they were treated differently (hours, assignments, responsibilities, scrutiny of work, evaluations, etc.) after they became a caregiver from before.
- Whether they are disciplined or criticized for things that non-caregivers are not.
- Whether their employer made comments to them about their caregiving around the time that they started to be treated differently (questioning commitment to work, making comments that mothers aren’t good workers, calling a man names for prioritizing family, making snide remarks about being out of the office).
- Whether rules that are being used to justify treating a caregiver a certain way are applied evenly to all employees. For example, if a rule against working part-time applies to men who want to take time off to play golf as much as it applies to women who want to take time off for child-related activities; for another example, whether a rule against light duty for non-work related injuries is used to deny light duty to a pregnant woman but not to a man who hurt his back playing football).
- Whether they are being singled out for particular treatment, such as being told to make up hours when other employees who are out do not have to make up hours or being told to sign in and out when other employees do not have to.
What Laws Protect Caregivers?
There is no federal law that explicitly prohibits discrimination against family caregivers in employment; however over 250 states, cities, or counties have laws that make employment discrimination based on family responsibilities or caregiver status illegal. Additionally, several federal laws impact the workplace rights of family caregivers.
WorkLife Law’s guide provides an overview of these varied laws protecting family caregivers in the workplace.
In addition, WorkLife Law conducted an in-depth review of lawsuits filed against businesses in the four states that have family responsibilities discrimination statutes – Alaska, Delaware, Minnesota, and New York – to determine the likelihood that a private employer will be sued. To learn more, view our report, Litigation or Clarification? The Impact of Family Responsibilities Discrimination Laws.
The Attorney Network
The WorkLife Law Attorney Network is a free service for qualified attorneys and potential family responsibilities discrimination plaintiffs.
The Network matches potential plaintiffs with member attorneys who are experienced in discrimination litigation and who have knowledge about the law of caregiver discrimination. There is no charge for referrals; attorneys make their usual fee arrangements with clients referred by the Network.
In addition, the Network assists member attorneys by providing important news about family responsibilities discrimination cases, consultation on litigation-related issues, access to a forms and briefs bank, and opportunities to share information with other member attorneys. Members of the Attorney Network also have access to a private repository of litigation resources, such as summaries of key PWFA and PUMP Act cases, verdicts and settlements, discovery checklists, and model complaints.
Interested in joining WorkLife Law’s Attorney Network? Apply here.
Questions?
Contact us at AttorneyNetwork@worklifelaw.org or 415-565-4640.