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
Equal Pay Act (1963) - Prohibits sex-based discrimination in rates of pay for men and women working on the same or similar jobs
- Part of the minimum wage section of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- Coverage of the Equal Pay Act is coextensive with the coverage of minimum wage provisions of FLSA
- 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
Title VII, Civil Rights Act (1964) - Keystone federal legislation; covers disparate treatment and disparate impact discrimination; and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Section 703 covers two basic areas of discrimination
- Disparate treatment, Section 703(a)(1) – Intentional discrimination and treating one class of employees differently from other employees
- Disparate impact, Section 703(a)(2) – Unintentional discrimination involving employment practices that appear to be neutral but adversely affect a protected class of people
Title VII, Civil Rights Act (1964) - 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
- 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
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967) - 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 (Effective January 1, 1987) – Eliminates mandatory retirement at age 70 for employees of firms with 20 or more employees
- 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
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967) - 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
- 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
Rehabilitation Act (1973) - Prohibits discrimination against handicapped individuals and contains these provisions
- 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
- 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
Rehabilitation Act (1973) - Section 7(7)(B) of the Rehabilitation Act defines a handicapped individual as 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
Vietnam-Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (1974) - 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
- OFCCP enforces this act
Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978) - The Supreme Court decision, General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, had a significant impact on its passage
- Requires employers to treat pregnancy just like any other medical condition with regard to fringe benefits and leave policies
- EEOC (responsible for administering the act) 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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