The answer brings to mind the one must-have item for the thousands of crazies who spend 12 hours in Times Square waiting for the ball to drop every New Years’ Eve with no available public restrooms:
Depends.
Under federal anti-discrimination law, an individual generally needs to be an employee to bring an employment discrimination claim. Laws like the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act require employment status to file a lawsuit. Race discrimination claims, on the other hand, can potentially be brought under a different statute.
State laws, however, vary. Some states permit independent contractors to bring “employment discrimination” lawsuits; other states do not.
A recent decision by the Washington Supreme Court serves as a reminder that in the Great Northwest (home of Mount St. Helens and Blaine Peace Arch Park [which I visited last month and got to run around and around the obselisk that marked the international border]), an independent contractor can bring a state law claim for discrimination “for the making or performance of a contract for personal services.”
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act also prohibits discrimination against independent contractors.
On the flip side, state anti-discrimination laws in Ohio and Florida protect only employees, not independent contractors.
To determine whether independent contractors are protected under anti-discrimination laws, the answer truly is: It depends. It depends on the type of alleged discrimination and depends on the state whether the alleged discrimination occurred.
None of this is to say that companies in states like Ohio or Florida should discriminate against contractors. In fact, where facts of any individual case are particularly egregious, common law claims might be recognized by courts uncomfortable with the idea that there is no remedy, even if the state’s anti-discrimination statute does not permit the claim. Although I live on the defense side, I still say: Do the right thing.
And if you should ever find yourself in Times Square on New Years’ Eve, passing the hours until the ball drops, I say this: Bring your adult undergarments. There’s no place to pee.
© 2018 Todd Lebowitz, posted on WhoIsMyEmployee.com, Exploring Issues of Independent Contractor Misclassification and Joint Employment. All rights reserved.
The EEOC’s jurisdiction is limited to claims brought under certain federal anti-discrimination laws. The reach of these laws, however, is limited to employees. It is not a violation of Title VII, for example, to discriminate against an independent contractor.
Who Is My Employee? 
