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- in United States
The first time you share your experience of mistreatment in the workplace with us, we quickly ask "where" and "when." The location and timing of your mistreatment affect our ability to help you. The location tells us the jurisdiction—which state and city laws bind your employer, and which courts have the power to hear your case. The timing tells us whether, for the law violated, you are still within the statute of limitations—or the window of time in which you are permitted to sue your employer.
You're likely coming to us about the discrimination or retaliation you faced in the workplace, in violation of your rights protected under the federal Civil Right Act ("Title VII"), Family Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, etc. Since the laws are federal, the location of you or your employer does not matter, as long as you're in the United States. And some of these laws allow you to file suit for events that happened as far back as three years.
So, what's the problem with relying solely on federal laws to protect workers' rights?
First, all the landmark civil rights statutes above were passed decades ago, certainly before the year 2000. While these laws remain revolutionary, we have learned so much, and require broader, more explicit laws to ensure worker protection doesn't hinge on the politics of the moment. Second, many of these laws require first filing your complaint with federal government agencies (e.g. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division etc.) before moving forward with a private lawsuit.1 However, not only have these agencies publicly renounced enforcement of common court interpretations of these laws,2 but they are chronically understaffed3 ... or shut down.
That's why we also look to state and local laws to vindicate your rights. For example, if you work in New York and faced racial discrimination, you can sue your employer for not only violating Title VII, but also the New York State Human Rights Law ("NYSHRL") and the New York City Human Rights Law ("NYCHRL").4 The latter two laws provide additional protection and ensure your employer will be held accountable in some manner.
But we don't think the quality and quantity of rights you have should depend on your zip code. So as we head into the second month of a federal government shutdown, it seems like the perfect time to highlight three things you should demand from your state and local governments to better protect your rights in the workplace.
1 – Enact Robust State and Local Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation Laws
Federal laws set the "floor" while state and local laws raise the "ceiling" on worker protections. Thus, federal laws establish the minimum level of protection that employers must provide to workers, while states and cities can create laws to maximize protection for workers. For example, Title VII protects you from workplace discrimination based on a minimum of five protected categories or classes: race, color, sex, religion or national origin.5 The California Fairness in Employment and Housing Act protects you from workplace discrimination on all the same bases as Title VII, but also based on medical condition, military status, and more.6 Another example: the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits workplace discrimination based on age, but you must be at least forty years old to assert a claim of age discrimination.7 Oregon extends that protection through its state law, lowering the minimum age of a worker to eighteen years old.8
In contrast, states such as Alabama and Mississippi have no anti-discrimination laws that protect against racial or gender discrimination in the workplace—forcing reliance on Title VII. So, the first step is ensuring your state has its own anti-discrimination or human rights act. Then do the same thing at the city level. With those state and local laws, you can advocate for more protected categories and other key legal provisions. You can elongate the statutes of limitations, relax the burdens of proof, or expand the type and amount of recoverable damages—the money you can receive for the loss of income or injury caused by your employer. Different laws cap the amount of money you can receive for lost wages, future earnings, emotional distress damages, and the evidence required to obtain each. (e.g. Title VII caps emotional distress damages at $300,000 whereas NYCHRL does not.)
2 – Mandate Personnel Record Sharing by Employers
While you might believe you were terminated for a discriminatory reason or in retaliation for reporting misconduct, your employer might claim that you were fired for poor performance. One way to show that your employer's claim is pretextual is pointing to your history of stellar performance! Annual reviews, peer feedback, bonuses, raises, action plans, complaints to Human Resources, offer letters, signed agreements, disciplinary actions – these are all important pieces of evidence to make your case.
However, once you leave the company, you also lose access to all that material. Even if you're still at the company, it might be hard to start requesting and downloading that information without raising questions.
Some states understand this constraint and have enacted laws mandating employers to share personnel records upon an employee (or her attorney's) request. Nevada state law assures that workers currently or formerly employed at a company have the right to inspect and copy their personnel files, up to sixty days after termination.9 Minnesota's personnel record law extends that window to a year.10
However, many states don't have personnel record laws. For nine years and counting, the New York Senate continues to punt on S6190, a law that would mandate personnel record sharing for public and private employees. Consequently, as great a law as NYSHRL is, the lack of any personnel records sharing law hamstrings its effectiveness.
3 – Ban Non-Competes
Even if you have great evidence and could win your lawsuit using state and local protections, you might be concerned that you still won't be able to find a new job because of your former employer's non-compete terms—the fine print in your original employment that prohibits you from working for a competitor or customer in the same field as your former employer for some years after you leave the company. States like California, North Dakota and Oklahoma, recognizing how non-competes limit the mobility of workers and suppress their wages, have banned non-competes all together.11
Other states have enacted partial bans, based on the income of a worker or the industry of an employer, while the rest of states allow these non-competes in their entirety. Thus, we see clients wondering if it's worth holding their employers accountable when they also have no steady income stream. Or some clients want to land safely at a new job before suing a former employer, so they want for their non-competes to expire ... only to find themselves barred from suing due to the statute of limitations. Filing a suit can be a psychologically demanding exercise, and only you can make that decision for you.
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Abusive employers exploit these legal machinations to discriminate and retaliate against workers with impunity. We could write whole books on each of these topics (and many more) but starting with these practical and very possible legal reforms will go a long way in helping you protect your rights in the workplace. Find out what protection your state offers; then contact your state senator or city council member to do more!
Footnotes
1 https://www.eeoc.gov/filing-charge-discrimination
2 https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/removing-gender-ideology-and-restoring-eeocs-role-protecting-women-workplace; https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy/
4 NYSHRL: https://dhr.ny.gov/new-york-state-human-rights-law; NYCHRL: https://www.nyc.gov/site/cchr/law/text-of-the-law.page
5 https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964
6 FEHA: https://www.dor.ca.gov/Home/FairEmploymentAct
7 https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/age-discrimination-employment-act-1967
8 https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/pages/discrimination-at-work.aspx
9 Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. §613.075
10 Minn. Stat. Ann. §§ 181.960 to 191.966
11 California Business and Professions Code Section 16600.1; North Dakota Century Code Chapter 9-08; 15 OK Stat § 219A (2022)
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
