Workplace discrimination is prohibited by law,but that doesn't mean it's gone, by any means.

While the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provided protections in theworkplace on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, nationalorigin, age, disability and “even 'genetic information,'” accordingto the Huffington Post, that doesn't mean that the wayis free and clear for any jobseeker—or that all employers are inthe clear when it comes to relying solely on what they think theyknow about the laws protecting employees againstdiscrimination.

Cities and municipalities have sometimes passed their ownlegislation when explicit federal updates to employmentdiscrimination bans have not stepped in to provide more specificprotections—for LGBTQ employees, as an example.

Related: Americans with disabilities face employmentchallenges

As a result, protections vary widely from place to place, withnotable differences in coverage not just from city to city or stateto state, but from region to region within the country.

In a joint project with Monster.com, the Huffington Postreviewed workplace discrimination protections with the greatestdisparities in state and federal coverage to see where employeesget the most (or least) protection under the law.

The project ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbiabased on how strong legal protections are for five differentfactors.

Each state got one point for each of the five it protects—awhole point if it does so for all or nearly all employees withinthe state, or only a half point if it does so only for publicsector employees.

They were ranked for having fewer protections, at 0–1.5 points;some protections, at 2–3.5 points; strong protections, at 4–4.5points; and very strong protections, at 5 points.

Some parts of the country (and some states) did far better inprotecting employees than others, with 13 states getting a 0 andonly 9 states and D.C. managed 4 out of 5 or higher; the northeastby far did the best, while the south did the worst.

Read on to see the types of discrimination requiring protectionand where the states ranked in doing so.

5. Providing family leave.

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 covers this—butobviously not terribly well, since so few states in the countrymandate some form of paid family leave. In the northeast, only NewYork (ranked as a 4.5) and New Jersey (ranked as a 5) did so.

Connecticut and Rhode Island each scored a 4; Maine,Massachusetts and Vermont scored 3; New Hampshire got a 2 andPennsylvania only got 1.

4. Providing reasonable accommodation for pregnantworkers.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is the relevantnational legislation here, and more states address this thanprovide family leave.

In the northeast, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and RhodeIsland all require employers to provide some kind of accommodationfor pregnant workers.

In the south, Washington, D.C. and Maryland, both ranked at 4,have the same requirement, while Texas extends that protection onlyto some public sector employees and has the lowly score of 0.5 as aresult.

West Virginia, at a rank of 1, Louisiana, at 2.5, and Delaware,at 3.5, also address this.

In the Midwest, Illinois and Minnesota, both ranked 4, and NorthDakota and Nebraska, both ranked 1, require it.

And in the west, Alaska, with a rank of 1, Utah and Hawaii,ranked 3, and California, ranked 5, also require it.

Incidentally, California is one of the four states requiringpaid family leave.

3. Increasing wage and salary transparency.

Covered by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, the EqualPay Act of 1963 and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act of2009, such protection is mandated by Connecticut, New Jersey,Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, RhodeIsland, Delaware, 2.5-ranked Louisiana for public sector employeesonly, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Illinois, Minnesota, California,Oregon and Colorado.

2. Banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers this, which isprotected by Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine, Vermont,Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Delaware,Washington, D.C., Maryland, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin(ranked at 1), Hawaii, Washington, New Mexico, California, Oregon,Utah, Colorado and Nevada.

Pennsylvania does protect against such discrimination, but onlyfor public sector employees, as do North Carolina (ranked at 0.5),Kentucky (ranked at 1), Louisiana, Virginia (ranked at 1), Indiana(ranked at 1), Alaska, Arizona (ranked at 0.5) and Montana (rankedat 1).

1. Banning discrimination based on sexual identity.

This too is covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of1964. Again Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts,New York (while only for public sector employees, the currentattorney general has said it must apply to all employees), RhodeIsland, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa,Hawaii, Washington, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Utah, Coloradoand Nevada.

Pennsylvania does protect against such discrimination, but onlyfor public sector employees.

North Carolina ostensibly protects against it, for public sectoremployees only, but passed that notorious “carve-out” bathroombill.

Kentucky, which only ranks at 1, also does so for public sectoremployees only, as do Delaware, at 3.5, Louisiana, Virginia,Indiana, Montana (ranked at 1).

Note that even if there's no specific legislation to beware of,the Huffington Post warns that “in the event that an employer doescross a line, resources like the U.S. Equal Employment OpportunityCommission, a federal agency that responds to civil rightsviolations in the workplace, are available to help [employees]determine next steps.”

Rose Saxe, senior staff attorney at the ACLU LGBT & HIVProject, was quoted in the report advising employees, “If you livein an area without statewide protections and experiencediscrimination, know that there may be legal remedies available,and contact a legal expert to help you figure out any recourse.