Chapter 2 - Dr. Nghia's Blog · PDF fileLearning Objectives After studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define equal employment opportunity. 2. Describe the intent of the

Equal Employment Opportunity:

The Legal Environment

Chapter 2

Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define equal employment opportunity.

2. Describe the intent of the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

3. Describe the intent of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

4. Define disparate treatment and disparate impact.

5. Discuss the purpose of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

6. Discuss the purpose of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

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Learning Objectives (cont.)

7. Describe the intent of the Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974.

8. Discuss the purpose of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.

9. Describe the intent of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

10. Describe the purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

11. Explain the purpose of the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1990

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Learning Objectives (cont.)

12.Discuss the intent of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. 13.Explain the intent of the Family and Medical

Leave Act of 1993. 14.Discuss the purposes of Executive Orders 11246,

11375, and 11478. 15.Describe the significance of the landmark

Supreme Court decisions 16.Name the federal agencies that have primary

responsibility for enforcing equal employment opportunity.

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Equal Employment Opportunity Laws

Equal employment opportunity

└ The right of all people to work and to advance on the basis of merit, ability, and potential

Discrimination in society and in the workplace gave rise to the civil rights movement, which in turn resulted in the U.S. Congress’s passage of laws to ensure equal employment opportunity

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Equal Pay Act (1963)

Equal Pay Act └ Prohibits sex-based discrimination in rates of pay

for men and women working on the same or similar jobs

└ Coverage of the Equal Pay Act is coextensive with the coverage of minimum wage provisions of FLSA

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Equal Pay Act (1963)

Permits differences in wages if payment is based on seniority, merit, quantity and quality of production, or a differential due to any other factor than gender

Prohibits employers from attaining compliance with the Act by reducing wage rate of any employee

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Title VII, Civil Rights Act (1964)

Title VII, Civil Rights Act

└ Keystone federal legislation; covers disparate treatment and disparate impact discrimination;

└ created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

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Disparate treatment

└ Intentional discrimination; treating one class of employees differently from other employees

Disparate impact,

└Unintentional discrimination involving employment practices that appear to be neutral but adversely affect a protected class of people

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Organizations covered by the provisions of Title VII: └ All private employers of 15 or more people who

are employed 20 or more weeks per year └ All public and private educational institutions └ State and local governments └ Public and private employment agencies └ Labor unions that maintain and operate a hiring

hall or hiring office or have 15 or more members └ Joint labor–management committees for

apprenticeships and training

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Title VII created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to administer the act and to prohibit covered organizations from engaging in any unlawful employment practices

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Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967)

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

└ Prohibits discrimination against employees over 40 years through 69 years of age by all companies employing 20 or more people in the private sector

└ Amendment (1987) – Eliminates mandatory retirement at age 70 for employees of firms with 20 or more employees

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Organizations covered by the ADEA: └ Private employers of 20 or more employees for

each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year

└ Labor organizations

└ Employment agencies

└ State and local governments

└ Federal government agencies, with certain differences; for example, federal employees cannot be forced to retire at any age

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Exception – Employees in bona fide executive or high policymaking positions

└ Permits mandatory retirement at age 65 for high-level executives with pensions exceeding $44,000 a year

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Section 4(f) of the ADEA sets forth several conditions under which the act does not apply

└ Age is a bona fide occupational qualification

└ It is not illegal for an employer to discipline or discharge an individual within the protected age group for good cause

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Rehabilitation Act (1973)

Prohibits discrimination against handicapped individuals

Prohibits discrimination against handicapped individuals by employers with federal contracts and subcontracts in excess of $2,500

Requires written affirmative action plans (AAPs) from employers of 50 or more employees and federal contracts of $50,000 or more

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Prohibits discrimination against handicapped individuals by federal agencies

Requires affirmative action by federal agencies to provide employment opportunities for handicapped persons

Requires federal buildings to be accessible to handicapped persons

Prohibits discrimination against handicapped individuals by recipients of federal financial assistance

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Handicapped individual

└ a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of major life activities, has a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment

Primary responsibility for enforcing this act lies with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) of the Department of Labor

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Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (1974)

Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act └ Prohibits federal government contractors and

subcontractors with federal government contracts of $10,000 or more from discriminating in hiring and promoting Vietnam and disabled veterans

Requires employers with 50 or more employees and contracts exceeding $50,000 to have written affirmative action programs for people protected by this act

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Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978)

Pregnancy Discrimination Act

└ Requires employers to treat pregnancy just like any other medical condition with regard to fringe benefits and leave policies

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Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978)

EEOC has taken the view that

└ An employer may not deny its unmarried employees pregnancy benefits

└ If pregnancy benefits are given to female employees, they must also be extended to the spouses of male employees

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Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986)

Immigration Reform and Control Act

└ Makes it illegal to hire, recruit, or refer for U.S. employment anyone known to be an unauthorized alien

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Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

└ Gives disabled persons sharply increased access to services and jobs

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Under this law, employers may not └ Discriminate, in hiring and firing, against disabled

persons who are qualified for a job

└ Inquire whether an applicant has a disability,

└ Limit advancement opportunity for disabled employees

└ Use tests or job requirements that tend to screen out disabled applicants

└ Participate in contractual arrangements that discriminate against disabled persons

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Employers

└Must provide reasonable accommodations for disabled employees

└Do not have to provide accommodations that impose an undue hardship on business operations

Mental disability

└mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of an individual, or a record of such impairment or being regarded as having such an impairment

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Suggestions for Making the Workplace Accessible to Disabled Workers

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Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (1990)

Older Workers Benefit Protection Act

└ Provides protection for employees over 40 years of age in regard to fringe benefits and gives employees time to consider an early retirement offer

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Civil Rights Act (1991)

Civil Rights Act

└ Permits women, persons with disabilities, and persons who are religious minorities to have a jury trial and sue for punitive damages if they can prove intentional hiring and workplace discrimination

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Civil Rights Act (1991)

Requires companies to provide evidence that the business practice that led to discrimination was not discriminatory but was job related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity

Places a cap on amount of damages a victim of nonracial, intentional discrimination can collect, based on the size of firm

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Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)

Family and Medical Leave Act

└ Enables qualified employees to take prolonged unpaid leave for family and health-related reasons without fear of losing their jobs

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Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)

Under the law, employees can use this leave in the event

└ they are seriously ill

└ an immediate family member is ill

└ birth, adoption, or placement for foster care of a child

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Executive Orders

Executive orders

└ Orders issued by the President of the United States for managing and operating federal government agencies

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Executive Orders 11246

Executive Order 11246

└ Requires every nonexempt federal contractor and subcontractor not to discriminate against employees and applicants because of race, sex, color, religion, or national origin

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Executive Orders 11246

Utilization evaluation

└ part of the affirmative action plan that analyzes minority group representation in all job categories; past and present hiring practices; and upgrades, promotions, and transfers

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Executive Orders 11375 and 11478

11375 amended 11246 and prohibited sex-based wage discrimination for government contractors

In 1969 the OPM issued Executive Order 11478, which in part suspended Executive Order 11246, along with revised regulations

The new regulations merely modified a number of the procedures under the previous orders and regulations

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State and Local Government Equal Employment Laws

As a result of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, many state and local laws became invalid after passage of the Civil Rights Act and other equal employment legislation

No federal laws prohibit states from passing laws against discrimination in areas not covered by federal law as long as it does not require or permit an act that is unlawful under federal legislation

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Landmark Court Cases

Griggs v. Duke Power Company └ Decision established several significant points

concerning equal employment opportunity

Consequences of employment practices, not simply intent or motivation of employer, are the thrust of Title VII in that practices that discriminate against one group more than another or continue past patterns of discrimination are illegal regardless of nondiscriminatory intent of employer

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Disparate impact doctrine

└ Provides that when the plaintiff shows that an employment practice disproportionately excludes groups protected by Title VII, burden of proof shifts to defendant to prove that the standard reasonably relates to job performance

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McDonnell Douglas v. Green

└ ruling set forth standards for burden of proof in discrimination cases

Complainant in a Title VII case carries initial burden of proof in establishing a prima facie case of discrimination.

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McDonnell-Douglas Test

1. The person belongs to a racial minority

2. The person applied and was qualified for a job for which the employer was seeking applicants

3. Despite his or her qualifications, the applicant was rejected

4. After the rejection, the position remained open and the employer continued to seek applicants from persons of the complainant’s qualifications

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Albemarle Paper v. Moody

└ Reaffirmed that tests used in employment decisions must be job related, and the use of EEOC guidelines in validating tests

University of California Regents v. Bakke

└ Reverse discrimination – Condition under which there is alleged preferential treatment of one group (minority or women) over another group rather than equal opportunity

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United Steelworkers of America v. Weber – Court ruled that Kaiser’s affirmative action plan was permissible because it └ Was designed to break down old patterns of

segregation

└ Did not involve discharge of innocent third parties

└ Did not have any barriers to advancement of white employees

└ Was a temporary measure to eliminate discrimination

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Connecticut v. Teal – Conclusion reached from this case is that bottom line percentages are not determinative

└ Bottom line concept – When overall selection process does not have an adverse impact, the government will usually not examine individual components of that process for adverse impact or evidence of validity

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Memphis Firefighters, Local 1784 v. Stotts └Although not banning

use of affirmative action programs, this decision did indicate that a seniority system may limit use of certain measures

City of Richmond v. J. A. Crosan Company └Court stated that state

and local governments must avoid racial quotas and must take affirmative action steps only to correct well-documented examples of past discrimination

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Wards Cove v. Atonio

└When minorities allege that statistics show they are victims of discrimination, employers only have burden of producing evidence that there is a legitimate reason for its business practices

Martin v. Wilks

└White firefighters could bring reverse discrimination claims against court-approved affirmative action plans

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Adarand Constructors v. Peña

└Questioned constitutionality of government measures designed to help minorities obtain contracts, jobs, or education

State of Texas v. Hopwood

└Concluded that the law school may not use race as a factor in law school admissions

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University of Michigan’s Admission Procedures

└ Schools cannot maintain quotas or separate admissions tracts for racial groups and that diversity cannot be defined solely on the basis of race

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Enforcement Agencies

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

└ Federal agency created under Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer Title VII of the act and to ensure equal employment opportunity

└ powers were expanded in 1979

└ Composed of five members, not more than three of whom may be members of the same political party

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http://www.eeoc.gov/

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Originally responsible for investigating discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

Now responsible for investigating equal pay violations, age discrimination, and discrimination against disabled persons

Develops and issues guidelines to enforce nondiscriminatory practices in all of these areas

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Enforcement Agencies

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

└ Office within the U.S. Department of Labor that is responsible for ensuring equal employment opportunity by federal contractors and subcontractors

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Documents

Chapter 2 - Dr. Nghia's Blog · PDF fileLearning Objectives After studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define equal employment opportunity. 2. Describe the intent of the