Laws and Statutes to Battle Employment Discrimination

It was during the 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement commenced and the federal government in cooperation with the state governments passed several laws as an action against one of the foremost civil violations happening in the country – employment discrimination. The laws that were enacted prevent any employer from making discriminating decisions against their employees.

According to the anti-employment discrimination laws, it is a violation to discriminate any employee for any grounds if it is not about the employee's performance or quality of work and the nature of the employee's personality.

The best-known anti-employment discrimination law

• Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII

- prohibits any employer who is employing a number of 15 or more employees from making discriminating policies or decisions based on the employee's gender, national origin, race, or religion

- Furthermore according to the Title VII, it is considered illegal for an employer to do the following actions against his / her employee on the basis of the aforementioned characteristics:

o Reject application
o Deny training
o Punish or chastise
o Refuse to promote
o Give lesser pay
o Demote
o Fire, retrench or lay off
o Harass

- Moreover, it is considered illegal when an employer adopts a rule or practice that may have a "disparate impact" on a certain protected class. An example of this is the implementation of hiring policies that have a tendency of screening out women applicants or those belonging to minority group


Other kinds of discrimination under the Title VII

• One of the particular discrimination based on an employee's gender is the discrimination because of pregnancy.

• While it is illegal to discriminate against women and members of a minority group, discrimination against males and "white" applicants is also a violation of anti-discrimination laws.

This type of discrimination is usually regarded as "reverse discrimination."

• Equal Pay Act – a federal law requiring any employer subject to the federal law on wage and hour policies, the Fair Labor Standards Act to give equal wage rates to employees, male or female who are performing the same kind of work or "equal work." Differences in pay may be based on seniority, quality of work and other factors as long as it is not because of the employee's sex.

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) – prevents any kind of discrimination against applicants or employees aged 40 years old and above. This law applies to employers hiring 20 employees and above.

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Rehabilitation Act – a law against the discrimination of disabled persons by employers hiring 15 employees or more

• Immigration Reform and Control Act – any employer with 3 employees or more has committed a violation of this law if he or she discriminates against a legal or "intended" citizen of U.S. because of his/her national origin.

Many other anti-discrimination laws are implemented within municipalities, counties, and states, which apply to any kind of employer, indicating additional protection from discrimination to other classes like lesbians, gays, those receiving welfare, married or unmarried persons, and even those with children.