The Seattle City Council passed a first-of-its-kind ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on caste in employment, housing, and public accommodation. Seattle’s mayor approved the ordinance on February 23, 2023, and the ordinance will take effect March 25, 2023, 30 days from the mayor’s approval.
The preamble to Seattle’s ordinance states:
caste is a system of rigid social stratification characterized by hereditary status, endogamy, and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law, or religion … and caste discrimination is based on birth and descent and occurs in the form of social segregation, physical and psychological abuse, and violence.
The measure amends Seattle’s anti-discrimination ordinance to include “caste” as a protected classification under the city’s law. The ordinance equates caste with other protected classifications such as race and gender.
Under the ordinance, Seattle businesses are prohibited from discriminating based on caste with respect to hiring, tenure, promotion, workplace conditions, or wages. The ordinance also bans discrimination based on caste in places of public accommodation or housing.
Until Seattle’s passage of the ordinance, no state, local, or federal anti-discrimination statute prohibited explicitly discrimination on the basis of caste. Plaintiffs and claimants asserting caste discrimination claims instead have invoked existing legal prohibitions on national origin, ancestry, religion, or race discrimination. Advocates for the...
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