Protected Characteristics

Knowing your rights is key to protecting your rights. This page provides important information about your rights under the New York State Human Rights Law, which is our state’s anti-discrimination law. The New York State Human Rights Law makes it illegal to discriminate against someone because of certain personal traits known as “protected characteristics,” like their skin color or gender.

There are 19 protected characteristics under the New York State Human Rights Law. If someone discriminates against you based on one or more of your protected characteristics that are covered by the Human Rights Law, you may be able to file a formal complaint. Complaints can lead to remedies like financial compensation, changes in policies, reversal of discriminatory decisions, and more. Protected characteristics include:

• Age: Age discrimination is illegal in employment, housing, education, and credit.
   
• Arrest Record: It is illegal to discriminate against someone based on a youthful offender record, a sealed conviction record, or an arrest record that was resolved in their favor or adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. This applies in employment, housing, volunteer positions, licensing, credit, and insurance.
   
• Citizenship or Immigration Status: It is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their citizenship or their immigration status. Please note: employers are allowed to deny employment to people who are not legally authorized to work in the United States.
   
• Conviction Record: It is illegal for employers to discriminate against an applicant or employee because of their conviction record.
   
• Creed/Religion: It is illegal to discriminate against someone because of their religion, belief, practice, or observance.  It is also illegal to discriminate against someone because an individual does not have a religious belief.
   
• Disability: It is illegal to discriminate against someone because of a disability. The Human Rights Law provides broad protections against disability discrimination, including requiring that reasonable accommodations be made for people with disabilities.
   
• Victim of Domestic Violence: It is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their status as a victim or survivor of domestic violence. The Law also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation in the form of leave time needed because of the domestic violence including medical, psychological, legal or other services, or for safety.
   
• Familial Status: It is illegal to discriminate against someone because they are pregnant, have a child or children under the age of 18 in their household, or are in the process of getting custody of a child.
   
• Gender Identity or Expression: It is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their actual or perceived gender identity or expression, including their appearance, behavior, or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to that person at birth. Under this part of the law, it is illegal to discriminate against someone because they are transgender.
   
• Lawful Source of Income: In the area of housing, it is illegal to discriminate against people based on their lawful source of income.  Lawful source of income includes, but is not limited to, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, child support, alimony, foster care subsidies, social security benefits, or any type of public assistance or housing assistance.
   
• Marital Status: It is illegal to discriminate against someone for being single, married, separated, divorced, or widowed.
   
• Military Status: It is illegal to discriminate against someone for being a Service Member in the United States military. This includes veterans and members of the reserves.
   
• National Origin: It is illegal to discriminate against someone based on the country of their birth, or the country where their ancestors were born. Under this part of the law, it is also illegal to discriminate against someone based on their ethnicity or the language that they speak.
   
• Predisposing Genetic Characteristics: It is illegal for employers to discriminate against an individual based on information from a genetic test.
   
• Pregnancy-Related Condition: It is illegal to discriminate against someone based on a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, including lactation.
   
• Race/Color: It is illegal to discriminate against someone because of their race or color. This part of the law also makes it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their ethnicity and traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture or hairstyle.
   
• Sex: It is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their sex or gender, including sexual stereotyping, sexual harassment, and pregnancy discrimination.
   
• Sexual Orientation: It is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality, or other sexual orientation.
   
• Victim of Retaliation: It is illegal to retaliate against someone for filing a discrimination complaint or taking other action to oppose discrimination. 

These protections apply in the workplace, housing, education, and in places open to the public, like stores and restaurants. Learn more about the settings protected under the Human Rights Law on our Protected Places page.

If you experience discrimination, report it to us by calling (844) 697-3471 to speak with a trained agent who can help you through the process. 

report discrimination

For the Division of Human Rights to investigate a complaint about discrimination, the act of discrimination also needs to have occurred in a setting that is covered by the Human Rights Law, like housing, employment, education, public accommodations, and credit. Learn more about the settings protected under the New York State Human Rights Law using the Protected Places button below.