Background

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the premier antidiscrimination employment law in the United States, does not prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of their marital status. Although some employees or applicants have attempted to make indirect marital status discrimination claims under Title VII by arguing, for example, that adverse action was taken against them because of their sex, federal law does not prohibit marital status discrimination by private sector employers.

Private sector employees seeking a remedy for such discrimination must pursue state remedies. Nearly half of the states in the union forbid at least some form of marital status discrimination in the workplace. Although these laws generally forbid directly adverse employment actions like terminations on the basis of marital status, they generally do not prevent employers from providing full family benefits to married employees, while providing only single benefits to single employees.

Law Applying to Federal Employees

Despite the lack of federal law applying the private employers, federal employees are protected from marital status discrimination. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 prohibits federal employees with the authority to take personnel actions from discriminating against any employees or applicants on the basis of their marital status. This includes discrimination on the basis of whether an employee is:

• Single
  
• Married
  
• Divorced
  
• Separated
  
• Widowed

Federal regulations specifically provide that marital discrimination exists where persons of one marital status are "exposed to disadvantageous terms or conditions of employment" to which employees with another marital status are not exposed.

Enforcement

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has been granted jurisdiction over claims of marital status discrimination in the federal employment sector. Employees or applicants claiming to have been victims of illegal discrimination are entitled to file claims with the OSC. The OSC will investigate the charges and take appropriate action. Unlike claims of sex or race discrimination, claims of marital discrimination may not be investigated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Such claims are not within the jurisdiction of the EEOC.

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