What Are the Protected Classes in Massachusetts?

The protected classes in Massachusetts are the personal characteristics that employers, landlords, and businesses open to the public cannot use against you. The lists are set by Chapter 151B of the General Laws (for employment and housing) and Chapter 272, Section 98 (for public accommodations), and they are longer than the federal lists. The exact protections depend on the setting, so a characteristic covered at work is not automatically covered when you walk into a store or apply for an apartment.

Protected Classes in Employment

Under Chapter 151B, Section 4, an employer cannot base hiring, firing, pay, promotion, or any other employment decision on:

Race
Color
Religious creed
National origin
Sex
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Genetic information
Pregnancy and related conditions, including lactation
Ancestry
Veteran status
Age
Disability

These protections apply to employers with six or more employees, as well as to labor organizations and employment agencies.¹ The six-employee threshold is important: federal laws like Title VII and the ADA do not apply until an employer has 15 workers, and age discrimination under federal law requires 20.² If you work for a small Massachusetts employer, state law may be your only avenue.

Sexual harassment counts as sex discrimination under Chapter 151B. Both quid pro quo harassment and hostile work environment harassment are prohibited, and Section 3A requires employers to adopt written anti-harassment policies and provide training.

Protected Classes in Housing

Housing has the widest list. Landlords, real estate agents, lenders, and property managers must follow all the employment categories above, plus three more:

Marital status
Having children (familial status)
Military service, including active-duty members and the National Guard

The ban covers refusing to rent or sell, setting different lease terms, limiting access to building facilities, and discriminatory advertising.³

The housing provisions also single out lead paint. When the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) or a court finds that a landlord discriminated against a family with children in a unit containing dangerous lead levels, the state’s childhood lead poisoning prevention program is notified.³

Assistance animals in rental housing are governed primarily by federal fair housing law. An assistance animal, including an emotional support animal, is not treated as a pet, and a landlord cannot apply a no-pet policy or charge a pet deposit when a tenant has a disability-related need for the animal. The accommodation can be denied only if it would impose an undue financial burden, fundamentally change operations, or if the specific animal poses a direct safety threat that cannot be reduced through other means.⁴

Protected Classes in Public Accommodations

Chapter 272, Section 98 covers places open to the public: restaurants, hotels, theaters, retail stores, and similar businesses. The protected characteristics are:

Race
Color
Religious creed
National origin
Sex
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Deafness
Blindness
Physical or mental disability
Ancestry

Age and veteran status are not on this list. Those protections apply in employment and housing, not in public accommodations.⁵ A business that denies service based on a protected class can face a criminal fine of up to $2,500, up to a year in jail, or both, and the person turned away can recover civil damages of at least $300.

Businesses also have to provide reasonable modifications for people with disabilities under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.⁶ Under the ADA, service animals are limited to dogs, and in some cases miniature horses, individually trained to perform tasks for a person with a disability. That is a narrower category than assistance animals in housing.

How the Massachusetts List Compares to Federal Law

Massachusetts protects more characteristics than federal law and reaches smaller employers. Gender identity has been explicitly protected in state employment and housing since 2011, when the Act Relative to Gender Identity added it to Chapter 151B.⁷ Public accommodations were not covered until 2016, when the legislature amended Chapter 272, Section 98.⁸ Sexual orientation has been protected statewide since 1989, when Massachusetts became the second state in the country to pass a comprehensive law covering employment, housing, and public accommodations.¹

If your complaint involves characteristics covered by both state and federal law, the MCAD has a worksharing agreement with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A charge filed with either agency is automatically dual-filed with the other.⁹

On pregnancy, Massachusetts has long protected the class under Chapter 151B. The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which took effect in June 2023 with final regulations in June 2024, adds a specific accommodation framework for employers with 15 or more employees. Accommodations can include more frequent breaks, schedule adjustments, temporary reassignment, or telework, and an employer cannot force an employee onto leave when another accommodation would let her keep working.¹⁰

Retaliation Is Its Own Protected Act

You cannot be fired, expelled, or otherwise punished for opposing discrimination, filing a complaint with the MCAD, or testifying in a discrimination proceeding. Section 4, subsection 4 of Chapter 151B makes retaliation a separate unlawful practice.³ That matters practically: even if the underlying discrimination claim does not succeed, you can still bring a retaliation claim based on how you were treated after you spoke up.

What to Do If You Were Discriminated Against

You have 300 days from the date of the discriminatory act to file a complaint with the MCAD.¹¹ You can file in person, by mail, or online. Your complaint should identify who discriminated against you, what happened, when it happened, and which protected class you believe was the basis for the treatment.

You also have the option to go to court instead. Under Section 9 of Chapter 151B, you can file in Superior Court or Probate Court 90 days after filing with the MCAD, or sooner with a commissioner’s written consent, but no later than three years after the discriminatory act. Filing in court automatically dismisses your MCAD complaint, so you have to pick one path. For housing discrimination, if you never filed with the MCAD, you can go straight to court but must do so within one year.¹²

The MCAD process is free and the agency investigates on your behalf. Court litigation gives you broader discovery and, in some cases, a jury, but typically requires an attorney. Age discrimination claims filed in court carry a right to a jury trial on factual issues.

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 151B Section 4 – Unlawful Practices
2
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Disabilities Act Expands to Cover Employers With 15 or More Workers
3
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B Section 4
4
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals
5
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 272 Section 98
6
ADA.gov. Businesses That Are Open to the Public
7
General Court of Massachusetts. Session Law – Acts of 2011 Chapter 199
8
General Court of Massachusetts. Session Law – Acts of 2016 Chapter 134
9
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs) and Dual Filing
10
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
11
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 151B Section 5 – Complaints, Procedure, Limitations
12
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B Section 9