Employers should also be aware that women cannot be discriminated against because they are pregnant. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act outlines that "women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment related purposes, including receipt of benefit programs, as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work." What this is basically saying is that employers are required to treat pregnancy as a disability, and as such are required to make reasonable accommodations to allow the pregnant women to work.
Other Protected Groups
Religion is a protected classification that employers should know about. The protection of religious beliefs from discriminatory employment practices means that the employer has to make "reasonable accommodations" for people to allow them to practice their religion. This includes not requiring them to work on a day of worship or religious holiday, to make accommodations or modification to allow for worship practices like prayer and fasting, and to be allowed to wear religious apparel at work. While all of these employment practices are required in "reasonable" situations, if these practices impair the employee's ability to do their job, or if it puts them or other workers in physical jeopardy, then the employer does not have to comply with these types of requests.
Discrimination based on national origin and Vietnam Veteran Status is also illegal. Courts have ruled that language requirements like "English only" or "understandable English" are legal, however, these restrictions are only legal when applied to work related communications and not to break time or non-work times communications. Unlike other anti-discrimination laws, the 1974 Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Act provides affirmative action programs that require any federal agency or company with more than $50,000 of federal contracts to actively recruit Vietnam Veterans.