West Virginia Human Rights Act: Coverage, Filing, and Remedies

The West Virginia Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on ten protected characteristics, and it gives anyone who believes they were discriminated against 365 days to file a complaint with the West Virginia Human Rights Commission.¹ The ten traits are race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, blindness, disability, and familial status.²

What the Ten Protected Characteristics Cover

Some of these traits carry statutory limits that surprise people. Age protection applies only to workers 40 and older, so a younger worker passed over for being “too young” has no claim under the Act.² Familial status protects households with children under 18, which mainly matters in housing where landlords cannot penalize tenants for having kids.

Disability is defined broadly. It means a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits a major life activity such as walking, seeing, hearing, learning, or working. You are also protected if you have a history of such an impairment or if someone perceives you as having one. That last piece matters: if an employer fires you because they wrongly believe you have a serious health condition, that is disability discrimination even if you are perfectly healthy. Blindness has its own precise statutory definition based on visual acuity and field of vision.²

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

The Act does not list sexual orientation or gender identity as protected characteristics. In employment specifically, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that federal Title VII’s ban on “because of sex” discrimination covers sexual orientation and transgender status, because you cannot discriminate on those grounds without considering sex.³ For workers whose employers are covered by federal law, that federal floor applies regardless of state silence.

Where the Act Applies

The Act reaches three settings: employment, housing, and places of public accommodation.⁴

In employment, that covers hiring, firing, pay, promotions, and working conditions, along with subtler practices like steering employees away from advancement or tolerating a hostile work environment based on a protected trait.

In housing, landlords, property owners, real estate brokers, and financial institutions cannot deny housing, offer different lease terms, or refuse mortgage lending based on a protected trait. Federal fair housing law adds a duty to grant reasonable accommodations to tenants with disabilities. A reasonable accommodation is a change to rules or policies that gives a disabled person equal use of the housing, and there must be an identifiable link between the accommodation and the disability. Providers can refuse only if the accommodation would create an undue financial or administrative burden or fundamentally change the nature of the program. Assistance animals, including emotional support animals, fall under this framework.⁵

A place of public accommodation is any establishment that offers goods, services, or facilities to the general public: restaurants, hotels, retail stores, gyms, theaters, medical offices.² Genuinely private establishments are excluded. Refusing service, offering inferior service, or imposing different terms because of a protected trait violates the Act.

Which Employers Are Covered

The employment provisions apply to any employer with 12 or more employees in West Virginia for at least 20 calendar weeks in the current or preceding year. Both parts matter. A seasonal business that briefly employs 15 people for a ten-week rush may not clear the threshold. State and local government employers are covered regardless of size. Private clubs are explicitly excluded, and the Act does not apply to individuals employed by their own parent, spouse, or child.²

Housing and public accommodations coverage is broader. Property owners, real estate brokers, financial institutions, and any business open to the public must comply.

Filing a Complaint With the Commission

You have 365 days from the last discriminatory act to file.¹ Miss it and you forfeit the right to file with the Commission. If the discrimination was a pattern, the clock runs from the most recent incident, but waiting near the end of that window makes it harder to gather witnesses and records.

Complaints can be filed at any Commission office by personal delivery or by mail. The Commission uses two forms, one for employment and public accommodation claims and a separate form for housing.¹ The complaint must include the legal name and physical address of the person or business you are filing against and precise dates for each alleged incident.

Write the narrative in concrete facts: what happened, who was there, what was said, when it happened. Identify which protected characteristic you believe motivated the treatment. You can amend the complaint before the Commission makes a probable cause finding, so filing promptly with what you have is better than waiting to perfect the story.¹

What Happens After You File

The Commission serves the respondent with notice, then investigates. That can include witness interviews and review of internal business records. Once the investigation ends, the Commission issues a determination on whether probable cause exists to believe discrimination occurred.¹ This is a screening decision. A finding of probable cause moves the case toward conciliation, where the Commission tries to negotiate a resolution, or a public hearing before an administrative law judge. A no-probable-cause finding dismisses the complaint.

You can withdraw your complaint at any time by written notice to the Commission, or to the administrative law judge if a hearing has been scheduled.¹

Retaliation Is a Separate Violation

Filing a complaint or helping with someone else’s is protected activity. An employer who fires, demotes, or punishes you for that commits a separate violation. Federal guidance treats a retaliation claim as requiring three elements: you engaged in protected activity, the employer took an action that would deter a reasonable person from filing, and there is a causal link between the two.⁶

The bar for what counts is wider than most people expect. Termination and demotion obviously qualify. So do negative performance reviews, undesirable transfers, and even out-of-workplace conduct such as disparaging you to prospective employers. Minor rudeness or personality friction generally does not qualify.

Dual Filing With the EEOC

The West Virginia Human Rights Commission is a Fair Employment Practices Agency with a worksharing agreement with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.⁷ When you file with the Commission, the charge is automatically dual-filed with the EEOC if it is covered by a federal statute like Title VII or the ADA, and the Commission usually keeps the investigation. If you file with the EEOC first, it dual-files with the Commission and usually keeps the case. Either way, one filing preserves your rights under both systems.

If the Commission closes your case and you disagree with the outcome, you may request EEOC review. That request must be in writing, submitted within 15 days of receiving the Commission’s determination, and it must state why you believe the result was wrong, such as witnesses who were never contacted or evidence not considered.⁷ Fifteen days is unforgiving. Put it on your calendar the day the letter arrives.

Remedies You Can Recover

A successful claim can bring monetary damages, equitable relief such as reinstatement or being placed into a wrongfully denied job or housing unit, and orders requiring the respondent to change discriminatory policies.

For employment claims pursued under federal law, compensatory and punitive damages are capped by employer size:⁸

15 to 100 employees: $50,000 combined limit
101 to 200 employees: $100,000 combined limit
201 to 500 employees: $200,000 combined limit
More than 500 employees: $300,000 combined limit

These caps apply to intentional discrimination claims involving race, color, national origin, sex, religion, disability, or genetic information under federal law. Back pay, front pay, and other equitable relief are not subject to these caps.

Housing discrimination cases carry federal civil penalties assessed by an administrative law judge, scaled to the respondent’s history:⁹

First violation: up to $26,262
Second violation within five years: up to $65,653
Two or more violations within seven years: up to $131,308

In employment cases, non-monetary relief can mean reinstatement, a wrongfully denied promotion, or required policy changes. In housing, it can mean an order to rent the unit or to abandon discriminatory screening criteria.

1
Legal Information Institute. West Virginia Code of State Rules 77-2-3
2
Justia. West Virginia Code 5-11-3 – Definitions
3
Supreme Court of the United States. Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia
4
West Virginia Legislature. West Virginia Code 5-11-9 – Unlawful Discriminatory Practices
5
HUD Exchange. CoC and ESG Additional Requirements – Reasonable Accommodations
6
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues
7
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) and Dual Filing
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Remedies For Employment Discrimination
9
eCFR. Assessing Civil Penalties for Fair Housing Act Cases