A protected class is a category of individuals to whom Congress or a state legislature has given legal protection against discrimination or retaliation. The concept of a protected class is most often found in civil rights laws and constitutional law cases, but other laws covering topics ranging from employment to elections seek to prevent discrimination against protected classes.
Protected classes are identified by many statutes, both federally and at the state level. For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, making each of these characteristics into a protected class. Similarly, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) extends protection to disabled people as a class. On the state level, protected classes can be seen in New York’s Election Law § 17-204, which defines protected class as “a class of eligible voters who are members of a race, color, or language-minority group” for the purposes of combating discriminatory disenfranchisement.
The concept of a protected class is distinct from suspect classification, which is part of Equal Protection Clause jurisprudence. While a protected class may overlap with a suspect classification, protected classes are explicitly protected by statute.
[Last updated in February of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]