USA LAW for equal opportunity in workplace - Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act - this act protects the employee and employee applicants from job discrimination based on race, gender (sex), age, religion, and national origin even if one is pregnant and it protects the employee virtually in every employment situation. 

This landmark law and decision was implemented to level the playing field for everyone. Now by discrimination, we can imply the person is treated less favorably, treat the person differently than others for any reason and it can happen in a school environment, any public or private place even on a metro or a subway while taking public transportation.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is one of the most important laws enacted as it is extremely comprehensive with solutions within the act itself for individuals to keep the playing field equal. An applicant by this law should be considered for the job and not based on his or her national origin and skin color, gender, or race. This is the most important equal opportunity law in the USA.

This law came into existence from the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 with the activists having sit-ins with the Government as to end the discrimination in employment between the Whites and the Blacks.

This law has seen amendments to it as to Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 Amended Title VII to treat pregnant women the same as disabled employees. The employer has to give leave, benefits during leave, and reinstatement after pregnancy to the same job position applied here by law. We will cover this topic more in detail in the Family and Medical Leave Act.

There are penalties for non-compliance with the laws that have been coded. When there is discrimination against an employee the employee has every right under the law that further got amended to the Civil Right Act Of 1991 to seek a jury trial. One will get compensation for punitive damages and with the limitations as established in the Civil Rights Act. The remedies are back pay, reinstatement to the job, and also being given the seniority as per the job applies to all employees. If the impact is intentional the best to go in for mediation and if that does not work then to take the entity to court and opt for a jury trial.

An employer cannot take an adverse employment action and cannot just fire an employee on the whim of his or her fancy, refuse to hire, or demote based on the employee's protected character. Age and Disability are protected under Age Discrimination Employment Act and the Americans with Disability Act.

Many individual States may enact their own laws to protect the employees that may cover more than the Federal laws.

The Claims under Title VII are :

Disparate Treatment of the Employee -where the employer treats the employee or job applicant differently because of his race, sex, color, national origin, and religion.

Disparate Impact- This act comes into play when an employee is in a protected class and is given a task that the employee is incapable of performing such as some physical task that may not be performed by a woman and she may not be able to perform it to the standards but the company has to prove that this requirement is necessary for the position and not other alternative policy would work.

Harassment - comes into play when the employee claims a volatile work environment, where the environment is hostile and the other is the quid pro quo ho it means something for something.

Negligence - Here the employee gets fired for discriminatory reasons by his or her employer and the employer or the co-worker makes discriminatory statements against the employee as the employer should have known about the employee who makes the defamatory statements.

There are many more claims that can be filed under Title VII and this is just a few of the ones mentioned here in this Blog Post. All employees are mostly protected under this law as it defines itself as individuals employed by the employer.