People seeking employment might or might not know that they are protected under the employee labor law. Some of the guidelines of these laws vary from state to state, while others are federal laws that apply to all states in the U.S. Employee labor law protects workers from various forms of mistreatment. Some of the most common of violations include: racial discrimination, age discrimination, failure to compensate for overtime, discrimination on the basis of sex, race discrimination, or discrimination of sexual orientation. Employers thought to be in violation of employee labor law can face very heavy penalties. Most of these penalties for employee labor law violators include large fines, but some can even include the forced closing of the business.