As soon as you have a public-facing service business and (especially) employees, you're in scope for several federal and state non-discrimination regimes. Most are common sense; ignorance is not a defense.
Customer-side considerations.
- You generally cannot refuse service based on race, religion, national origin, sex, disability, familial status, or several state-protected categories.
- ADA Title III applies to "places of public accommodation", usually less applicable to in-home service businesses, but your website (if you sell services online) may need to be accessible. Lawsuits over website accessibility are real and rising.
- Service animal accommodations: customers can have a service dog; you cannot refuse service because of it.
Employment-side (if you have W-2 employees).
- Title VII (race, color, religion, sex, national origin), applies at 15+ employees federally; many states apply to all employers
- ADA (disability accommodations), 15+ employees federally
- Age discrimination (40+), 20+ employees federally
- Pregnancy Discrimination Act
- State laws often broader and apply to smaller employers
Practical applications.
- Job postings: focus on skills and physical requirements; avoid age-related language ("young energetic team")
- Interviews: don't ask about marital status, family plans, religion, age, national origin, disability, ask about ability to perform the job
- Reasonable accommodations: an interactive process when a tech requests one for a disability or religious practice
- Harassment policy: written, distributed, training for any role with management responsibility
What gets small operators in trouble. Casual comments documented in text or email. Disparate treatment between employees that wasn't intentional but is real (e.g., always assigning the older tech the harder routes). Termination conversations done poorly without documentation.
This is HR + employment law territory. For serious situations, consult an employment attorney before acting.