Tile VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
“Title VII of the Civil rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1968, 1972, and 1991 is designed to prohibit discrimination in hiring, firing, wages, terms, and conditions or privileges of employment.” Title VII expands on the Taft-Hartley Act as it is inclusive of all individuals, government agencies, political subdivisions, unions, partnerships, associations, cooperation’s, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint stock companies, trust, unincorporated organizations, trustee, and trustees in bankruptcy. The enforcement agency of this act is the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. The only exemption is the religious institution that is exempt from religious discrimination. Federal civil service employees fall under the provision of this act, but the US Civil Service Commission does the enforcement.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission consists of five members. The Commission’s headquarters is in Washington D.C. In 1972, the Commission established the office of General Counsel. The General Counsel is responsible for all cases except for the few that are handled by the U.S, Supreme Court. The Attorney General handles these cases. The amendments in 1972 also established the Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinating Counsel that is responsible for reporting to the president on an annual basis.
There are three standards that are applied by the courts in deciding Title VII Discrimination Cases:
Individual Disparate Treatment- Treating an individual different then all of the others simply for being in a protected class.
Systematic Disparate Treatment- treating a whole protected class differently.
Adverse Impact- a policy may appear to be neutral, but its adverse impact eliminates a protected class. Intent to discriminate does not need to be proven under this standard.
The following is brief synapses of the workplace rights under Title VII
Help Wanted Ads- It is a violation for advertisements to indicate a sex as a qualification of employment
Employment records- they can be asked for on the initial application.
Physical Examinations- can not Discriminatory
Physical requirements-Must be justified on the particular job to be performed. The court ruled that these violations would be heard on a case-by-case basis.
Sex Plus Qualifications- the requirements must be the same for women and men in respect to martial status. However the employer is entitled to rule against hiring any relative. If coworkers where to marry they would be given the right to decide who would quit or employment policy can dictate that the one with least seniority would have to resign.
Testing and Education Requirements- The Basic test for guiding equal employment action is the Griggs v. Duke Power Company. The Supreme Court ruled that a company must prove that a test or an education requirements is job related in any case that contests its’ validity.
Equal Pay- The Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires equal pay for equal work. The act is only enforced in sexual discrimination cases. This act permits wage differential for seniority, merit, quantity, and other factors.
Sexual Harassment- In 1975, the William v. Saxbe Case was the first case to apply harassment to Title VII. The EEOC defines sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and any other verbal or physical conduct that is used under the following guidelines:
1. Submission is term or condition of employment.
2. Sexual conduct is used as a basis of employment decisions such as hiring or promotion.
3. When the conduct has purpose or effect of interfering with work environment.
Homosexuals- Homosexual advances are considered a form of sexual harassment under Title VII, but the homosexual is not protected against discrimination from the employer. This was re-affirmed by the Court of Appeals in the DeSantis v. Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. The court ruled that discrimination applies only to individuals on the basis of gender and not sexual preference.
Pregnancy- Pregnancy must be treated as any other disability. The 1978 Pregnancy Amendment granted women the right to disability for pregnancy that is equal to the limits placed on physical disabilities.
Fringe benefits- it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate between men and women in regard to the distribution of fringe benefits.
Pension and Retirements Plans- In July of 1983, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unlawful to discriminate between sexes for pension payments. Pension plans could no longer penalize women because they lived longer.
Reverse Discrimination- Rosen v. Public Service Electric Case- The courts ruled that males could not be held to different standards then female employees in regards to pension age requirement.
Religious Discrimination- The TWA Decision by the Supreme Court in 1977 declared that there was not much of an accommodation for religious beliefs under Title VII.
National origin- Discrimination on natural origin is unlawful. EEOC Guidelines require that violations can occur when the employment test is given in English when the applicants are non-English speaking and the language skill has nothing to do with the job. Height and weight requirements can be considered national origin discrimination when they exclude certain groups and have nothing to do with the job performance.
