Federal statutes prohibiting employment discrimination are found in Titles 29 and 42 of the U.S. Code. Listed below are the most important statutes for employment discrimination law. The links provided here are to free versions of the law and so are NOT annotated with case citations and other reserach refcerences. To use an annotated version of the U.S. Code, you will need to access either Lexis (U.S. Code Service) or Westlaw (U.S. Code Annotated) or use the print versions in the library.
When instructed by Congress, federal agencies enact regulations to specify and enforce the law. These regulations have the force of law.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the agency tasked with enforcement of many of the anti-discrimination laws. Its website is a rich resources for information, laws, regulations, guidance, publications, etc.
Other agencies that address or provide assistance with certain aspects of employment discrimination include:
National Labor Relations Board
The simplest way to find the most relevant regulations is to use the websites of specific federal agencies, such as the EEOC. Most agencies keep their regulations available and up-to-date.
More comprehensive searching can be done in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The CFR is by far the easier tool for research purposes.There are 5 basic ways to go about finding regulations in the CFR:
Most beginning researchers jump right to searching the full text with a few terms, but many times this will not be the most effective approach. Regulations are infamous for using very particular language, so a combination of search techniques may be your best bet.
Lexis and Westlaw offer the most sophisticated searching of the CFR. In addition, you can use their annotated statutory codes (USCS and USCA) to link from a statute to relevant regulations.
For free access to regulations, you can search the e-CFR. Notice that there are advanced search options in the left side panel if you need to be more specific.