The document discusses discrimination in employment and the laws that prohibit it. It defines direct and indirect discrimination and outlines several important acts and laws that make employment discrimination illegal, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Civil Rights Act of 1972, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also summarizes several important Supreme Court cases related to employment discrimination. Finally, it discusses the importance of continued enforcement of anti-discrimination laws.

1. Discrimination in
Employment
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

2. Introductory Reflection
"My knowledge of my years in Ecuador was not enough
to prepare myself to understand who I will become in the
United States; a minority in a country full of laws and
contradictions. I married a good man who alleviated the
inevitable consequences of my heavy accent and skin
color. How? My husband is what you will call Hispanic
by race, but white by skin and appearance. As a result, I
found myself in a dilemma when a doctor let me choose
if I wanted my child to be label Hispanic or White…”

3. What is Discrimination?
In plain English, to "discriminate" means to distinguish,
single out, or make a distinction. In everyday life, when faced
with more than one option, we discriminate in arriving at
almost every decision we make. But in the context of civil
rights law, unlawful discrimination refers to unfair or
unequal treatment of an individual (or group) based on
certain characteristics. There are two types of discrimination;
Direct and Indirect.

4. Types of Discrimination
Direct discrimination
 An example of direct discrimination is a job advert, which says "no disabled
people need apply." However, in reality discrimination often takes more subtle
forms. That’s why indirect discrimination is also covered.
Indirect discrimination
 An example of indirect discrimination is requiring all people who apply for a
certain job to sit a test in a particular language, even though that language is
not necessary for the job. The test might exclude more people who have a
different mother tongue.

5. Title VII, 1964 Civil Rights Act
This law prohibits employment discrimination
based on:
 Race
 Color
 Religion
 Sex
 National Origin

6. Age Discrimination In
Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
Protects employees or applicants 40 years of
age or older:
 Cannot discriminate based on age with respect to any
term, condition or privilege of employment
 Punitive & compensatory damages

7. Civil Rights Act 1972 Amendment
Sexual harassment is a:
 Form of sex discrimination
 Violation of federal law

8. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of
1978
 Amendment to Civil Rights Act
 Unlawful to discriminate on the basis of pregnancy,
childbirth or related medical conditions

9. Americans with Disabilities Act
 Prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in all
employment practices
 Employer must make accommodation to known
disability of qualified applicant or employee unless it
imposes undue hardship

10. Affirmative Action
The intended purpose of Affirmative Action is to
increase the opportunity for minority groups
 “You do not take a person …bring him up to the starting line
of a race and say, 'you are free to compete with all the
others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely
fair.” –President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965

11. Employment Discrimination:
U.S. Supreme Court Cases …
Below is a list of U.S. Supreme Court cases involving
employees' rights and employment discrimination,
including links to the full text of the U.S. Supreme Court
decisions.
 Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971)
In this case, the Court decided that certain education
requirements and intelligence tests used as conditions of
employment acted to exclude African-American job
applicants, did not relate to job performance, and were
prohibited.

12. Employment Discrimination: U.S.
Supreme Court Cases …
 Cleveland Bd. of Ed. V. LaFleur (1974)
Found that Ohio public school mandatory maternity leave
rules for pregnant teachers violate constitutional guarantees
of due process.
 Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986)
Found that a claim of "hostile environment" sexual
harassment is a form of sex discrimination that may be
brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

13. Employment Discrimination: U.S.
Supreme Court Cases …
 Johnson v. Transportation Agency (1987)
The Court decides that a county transportation agency
appropriately took into account an employee's sex as one
factor in determining whether she should be promoted.
 Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Serv., Inc. (1987)
In this case, the Court held that sex discrimination
consisting of same-sex sexual harassment can form the basis
for a valid claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964.

14. Employment Discrimination: U.S.
Supreme Court Cases …
 Burlington Industries, Inc. Ellerth (1998)
Holding that an employee who refuses unwelcome and
threatening sexual advances of a supervisor (but suffers
no real job consequences) may recover against the
employer without showing the employer is at fault for
the supervisor's actions.
 Faragher v. City of Boca Raton (1998)
The Court decides that an employer may be liable for
sexual discrimination caused by a supervisor, but
liability depends on the reasonableness of the
employer's conduct, as well as the reasonableness of
the plaintiff victim's conduct.

15. The Necessity of
Continued Enforcement of
the Laws
 Many people in this country still, unfortunately,
are opposed to the ideal of equality
 Any lack of enforcement of these laws gives more
power to such people
 Although progress in achieving equality has been
made due to the laws, true equality has not yet
been reached, and can only be attained through
further diligence.

16. Civil Rights Act of 1991
 The Civil Rights Act of 1991 made major changes in the
federal laws against employment discrimination enforced by
EEOC. Enacted in part to reverse several Supreme Court
decisions that limited the rights of persons protected by these
laws, the Act also provides additional protections. The Act
authorizes compensatory and punitive damages in cases of
intentional discrimination, and provides for obtaining
attorneys' fees and the possibility of jury trials. It also directs
the EEOC to expand its technical assistance and outreach
activities.

17. What Is EEOC and How Does It
Operate?
 EEOC is an independent federal agency originally
created by Congress in 1964 to enforce Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Commission is composed
of five Commissioners and a General Counsel appointed
by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Commissioners are appointed for five-year staggered
terms; the General Counsel's term is four years. The
President designates a Chair and a Vice-Chair. The
Chair is the chief executive officer of the Commission.
The Commission has authority to establish equal
employment policy and to approve litigation. The
General Counsel is responsible for conducting litigation.
 EEOC carries out its enforcement, education and
technical assistance activities through 50 field offices
serving every part of the nation.
 The nearest EEOC field office may be contacted by
calling: 1-800-669-4000 (voice) or 1-800-669-6820
(TTY).

18. The answer …
I chose the Hispanic label for my children. I
realized that labels are merely justifications to our
own fears.
"An individual has not started living until he can
rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic
concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.“
Martin Luther King, Jr.