Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII came to stand during the civil rights movement in the United States and it proclaims that an employer cannot legally discriminate against any race, color, sex, religion, gender, or national origin. The civil rights act was revised from the equal employment opportunity act of 1972 and was first thought of by John F. Kennedy but ended up being signed by Lyndon Johnson and then later approved through congress. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII states, “To enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, and for other purposes.” ("Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964")
Civil Rights Act of 1991
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII was amended in November of 1991 and it was signed by George Bush. It proposed that women and minorities were to be included in the protection of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on certain characteristics of a person. The law was put into place due to the court case: Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio. In a journal titled Army Lawyer, there was an article titled “The Civil Rights Act of 1991”. In that article, the author, Davidson, states, “It significantly altered two federal discrimination statutes--the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Noticeably absent from the new legislation, however, was any substantive change to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Most important from a federal defensive litigation perspective, the new legislation altered the law of disparate impact…” (Davidson 3)
Equal Pay Act of 1963
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 makes it illegal for employers to use different pay scales for different genders. It states that a female should make the same amount of money as a male doing the same job. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 states, “No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex: Provided, That an employer who is paying a wage rate differential in violation of this subsection shall not, in order to comply with the provisions of this subsection, reduce the wage rate of any employee.” ("Equal Pay Act of 1963")
Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009. This was the first law that he signed as president. After he signed the act, he said that it would, “send a clear message that making our economy work means making sure it works for everybody.” (Stolberg) During a press conference, after signing the bill, Obama explains, “It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — we are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness…” (Stolberg) Stolberg, the author of the article "Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation “, writes, “He said was signing the bill not only in honor of Ms. Ledbetter — who stood behind him, shaking her head and clasping her hands in seeming disbelief — but in honor of his own grandmother, ‘who worked in a bank all her life, and even after she hit that glass ceiling, kept getting up again’ and for his daughters, ‘because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams.’” (Stolberg)
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against pregnant women on the basis of hiring, promoting, and firing an employee or applicant. This law was a revised version of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII. I found an article that involves the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 where a teacher was fired due to a pregnancy that was conceived outside of wedlock. The article is titled Pregnancy Discrimination Act Violated When School Fires Teacher for Premarital Pregnancy and was written in May of 2012 by Judy Greenwald. Greenwald writes, “A teacher at a Christian school, who was fired after she told the administration she had become pregnant before her marriage, has presented sufficient evidence to establish she may have been terminated because of her pregnancy, and not the premarital sex, says an appellate court.” Because of the presence of her work place, premarital sex was not an option in her religion and that of the religion of everyone in her workplace and it is not protected under the Civil Rights Act. Greenwald then says, “After she told Southland’s administrator and assistant minister, John and Julie Ennis, what happened, she was fired four days later ‘purportedly because she had sinned by engaging in premarital sex and, as John Ennis put it, ‘there are consequences for disobeying the word of God’”. The teacher sued for the violation and the court through it out.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 makes it illegal to discriminate based on age forty and above on the basis of hiring, promoting, or firing an employee or an applicant. In a Harvard article that I found, the author explains, “Age discrimination in employment is a problem that faces thousands of American workers. Many employers establish arbitrary age limits that both restrict the availability of new jobs and force the premature retirement of older employees. Even during periods of relatively low unemployment, the percentage of older persons who are unable to find work is disproportionately high.” (Harvard Law Review)
References
United States . Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission .Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Web. <http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm>.
Davidson, Michael J.
"The Civil Rights Act of 1991." Army
Lawyer . (1992): 3. Web. 20
Oct. 2013.
<http://www.lexisnexis.com.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sr&csi=165651&sr=TITLE(The
Civil Rights Act of 1991) and date is 1992>.
United States . Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission .Equal Pay Act of 1963. 1963. Web.
<http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm>.
Stolberg, Sheryl Gay.
"Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation ."New York Times 01 30 2009, n. pag. Web. 20 Oct.
2013.
Greenwald, Judy .
"Pregnancy Discrimination Act Violated When School Fires Teacher for
Premarital Pregnancy."Workforce .
N.p., 21 May 2012. Web. 20 Oct 2013.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. Harvard
Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 2 (Dec.,1976), pp. 380-411
