Get Legal Help

Have you been discriminated against at work?

• Learn about the different types of employment discrimination
• Learn how to file an EEOC charge
• Contact the EEOC
• Report the incident to the ADC Legal Department

File a complaint by calling the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at 1-800-669-4000. Visit the EEOC website for more information about your workplace rights

Questions and answers from the EEOC on workplace rights of Muslims, Arabs, & South Asians.

Download an ADC guide that discusses employment discrimination and the basic rights held by everyone who legally works or seeks employment in the United States.

See ADC’s amicus brief in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., where the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employer may not make an applicant’s religious practice, confirmed or otherwise, a factor in employment decisions.

Have you been treated unfairly while traveling?

File a complaint with the US Department of Transportation: Aviation Consumer Protection and Enforcement

• Online
• Call 1-800-322-7873
• Email airconsumer@ost.dot.gov
• Report the incident to the ADC Legal Department

In addition, you can send detailed complaint letters to:
Aviation Consumer Protection Division, C-75
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20590

More information on filing airline service complaints or comments

U.S. citizens who are Arab or Muslim have experienced significant difficulties in entering or exiting through Israeli controlled borders. See U.S. Department of State Travel Warning. The U.S. Department of State has asked ADC to gather information on U.S. citizens who have been denied entry by Israeli authorities in the last year or so. Completing this intake form will help ADC and the Bureau of Consular Affairs to identify trends that can be addressed.

Intake form: U.S. Citizens denied entry through Israeli controlled borders

Are you the victim of a hate crime? Do you know someone that has been?

Call your local Police Department and file an official police report – dial 911 in most communities in the United States

Read this ADC Advisory Statement to protect yourself from potential attacks.

Report the incident to the ADC Legal Department.

File a complaint with the FBI.

Housing discrimination based on your race, color, national origin, religion, sex, family status, or disability is illegal under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). If you have been trying to buy or rent a home or apartment and you believe your rights have been violated under FHA, file a complaint with ADC. You can file a fair housing complaint.

More information about the Fair Housing Act can be found on ADC’s Housing Rights Brochure

Additional Resources include:

• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• Housing and Civil Enforcement Section
• National Fair Housing Alliance

Discriminatory Effect or disparate impact in housing is also prohibited. See U.S. Supreme Court decision in Texas v. The Inclusive Communities and ADC support of the case by joining on Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights amicus brief.

Have you experienced discrimination at school?

Report the incident to the ADC Legal Department.

File a complaint with the US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights:

• Online
• Call 1-800-421-3481

Read ADC’s Advice to Parents on how to respond to cases of discrimination in schools.

Read ADCRI’s Education resource page.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), investigates allegations of civil rights and civil liberties abuses by employees in the FBI, DEA, INS, Federal Bureau of Prisons, US Marshals Service, US Attorneys Offices, and all other Department of Justice agencies (that includes the Police).

Report misconduct:

• Online
• Call 1-800-869-4499

ADC continues to receive reports from Arab American travelers experiencing difficulty traveling at different ports of entry. Common problems include undue delays and secondary searches. In some instances, passengers are detained and not allowed to travel. Some of these problems encountered by Arab American travelers also came as a direct result of the different governmental “watch lists.”

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Arab Americans, mosques, cultural centers and our communities as whole are subject to surveillance under the guise of national security and without probable cause. Under current legislation and polices, our government and law enforcement is not required to prove probable cause or even criminal suspicion before subjecting someone to a query for investigation or to place someone on the Watch-lists. Criminal suspicion is often assumed against our communities because we have a particular name, was born in a particular country, wear cultural garb or a religious article of faith.

Read More

ADC has received an increasing number of reports from Arab-Americans who have had their bank accounts closed arbitrarily due to their Arabic background. The financial institution often cites the Patriot Act generally as the reason for the account closure, but refuses to provide a more specific reason for the account closure.

Click here to report the incident to the ADC Legal Department.  (Be sure to include the name of the financial institution in the incident report.)