Discrimination - Other - New Hampshire

Summary of differences between federal and state regulations

The federally protected classes in employment discrimination include race, color, religion, national origin, age (40 and over), sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), disability, and genetic information.

The New Hampshire law identifies the following protected classes for purposes of employment discrimination:

• Age,
• Sex (includes harassment on the basis of sex, pregnancy and medical conditions which result from pregnancy),
• Gender identity (a person’s gender-related identity, appearance, or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth),
• Race,
• Color,
• Marital status,
• Physical or mental disability,
• Religious creed,
• National origin,
• Disability (physical or mental impairment, but does not include current, illegal use of or addiction to a controlled substance under 21 U.S.C. 802, sec. 102),
• Sexual orientation (having or being perceived as having an orientation for heterosexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality),
• Genetic information, and
• Retaliation (employee opposed discrimination or participated or testified in an investigation),

Employer defined

“Employer” does not include any employer with fewer than six persons in its employ, but does include the state and all political subdivisions, boards, departments and commissions. The term also does not include a club exclusively social, or a fraternal, charitable, educational or religious association or corporation, if such club, association or corporation is not organized for private profit.

In determining whether an individual is a covered employee, the commission will determine whether an employer-employee relationship exists when:

• The employer pays the employee by the hour, week, month, piece or commission and may pay business and travel expenses;
• The employer provides the employee with instructions, training or orientation as to when, where and how the work is to be performed to the employer’s specifications;
• The employer supervises the work of the employee;
• The employee submits oral or written reports to the employer regarding work activities;
• The work performed by the employee is part of the regular business of the employer;
• The employer supplies the employee with the instrumentalities, tools and the place of work without a significant investment by the employee;
• The employee is prevented from hiring, supervising and paying assistants to complete a specific goal in the manner of a subcontractor;
• The employer can discharge the employee with a right to no more than compensation already earned, and the employee can end the relationship, without incurring any liability as in a breach of contract, other than an employment contract or collective bargaining contract; and/or
• Any other factor which contributes to the nature of the relationship that the parties believe they are creating.

CROWN Act

The New Hampshire CROWN Act created a private cause of action for discrimination in employment based on hairstyles relative to a person’s ethnicity.

The Act states that no person may be subject to discrimination in employment because he or she wears a “protective hairstyle”. A person subjected to discrimination based on wearing a “protective hairstyle” will have a private cause of action and will be exempt from the jurisdiction of the State Commission for Human Rights and the provisions of RSA 354-A.

“Protective hairstyles” means hairstyles or hair type, including braids, locs, tight coils or curls, corn rows, Bantu knots, Afros, twists, and head wraps. 

The CROWN Act does not apply to those employed by the department of corrections.

Sexual orientation

The unlawful employment practices regarding sexual orientation are essentially the same as for other protected classes. For example, it is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire or employ; or to bar or to discharge from employment; or to discriminate against an individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment, on account of that person’s sexual orientation.

Use of tobacco products

No employer shall require as a condition of employment that any employee or applicant abstain from using tobacco products outside the course of employment, as long as the employee complies with any workplace policy.

Posting

Every covered employer or entity must post in a conspicuous place or places on his premises a notice prepared or approved by the Commission for Human Rights which sets forth excerpts of the Law Against Discrimination and other relevant information necessary to explain the law.

State

Related information

Protected classes ezExplanation

Contact

Commission for Human Rights

Regulations

Revised Statutes Chapter 354-A, State Commission for Human Rights

RSA 354-A:7 Equal Employment Opportunity; Unlawful discriminatory practices

RSA 354-A:2 Definitions

RSA 354-A:18-a State Commission for Human Rights: Exemption for Protective Hairstyles

RSA 354-A:19 Retaliation and required records

Revised Statutes Chapter 275, Section 275:37-a Discrimination on Basis of Using Tobacco Products Prohibited

RSA 275:37-e Discrimination in the Workplace; Discrimination Based on Protective Hairstyle

Federal

Contact

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Regulations

See applicable discrimination topic.