Title Vii Paper

How Title VII Affects the Workplace Paper

The last decade has produced an explosion of racial employment discrimination lawsuits. These lawsuits have resulted in record-breaking settlements. By federally mandating every business to review the history, impact and proposed policy of Article VII these lawsuits may subside. Reviewing Title VII is a step corporate America must soon make or continue to loose much needed revenue. Our team will discuss the history of Title VII, the impact of Title VII in the workplace, who is and who is not covered under Title VII as well as propose policies that companies should have in place to avoid Title VII violations.

The Evolution of Title VII and its Amendments

Title VII covers many issues under employee's rights regarding the Civil Right Act of 1964, however there other titles created under this Act (Bennett-Alexander, D., & Hartman, L., 2007). "The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 also created the legal basis for nondiscrimination in voting, education, public accommodation and federally assisted programs" (Bennett-Alexander, D., & Hartman, L., 2007). When slavery ended our country was forced to develop a bond with people that had no social or legal relationship with the rest of the world. Because of this separation, Jim Crow laws were developed. This law regulated the separation of blacks and whites in every aspect of life and therefore discrimination was practiced. Racial discrimination was the driving force behind the enactment of Title VII which states that "(1) it shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex or national origin. (2) limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin" (Bennett-Alexander, D., & Hartman, L., 2007). Title VII applies equally to everyone, however it gave new rights to women and minorities who had limited means for solving job discrimination issues (EEOC, 1997). Title VII opened new avenues to eliminating discrimination and creating expectation of fairness in employment. In efforts in eliminating discrimination and to ensure no one would be excluded amendments followed Title VII, providing protection from discrimination in many areas. For example discrimination against age and disability are amendments to Title VII (Bennett-Alexander, D., & Hartman, L., 2007). The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) applies to employers of 20 or more employees, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) intentions are to make society more accessible to people with disabilities (Bennett-Alexander, D., & Hartman, L., 2007). Although Title VII has been amended many times since it origination the basis of its existence is to clearly prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin (Bennett-Alexander, D., & Hartman, L., 2007).

Application of Title VII and its Amendments in the Workplace

The Impact of Title VII in the Workplace; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is considered the single most import piece of legislation in the United States. This legislation is responsible for forging the shape of employment law rights, defining the parameters of discrimination, those that are protected, and to set clear lines of prohibited or unacceptable practices of discrimination in the workplace. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), The Civil Rights Act of 1964 strictly prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin (EEOC, 1997). The impact of Title VII is extreme from every perspective, both from a positive perspective and a negative one. If an employer can provide strong top to bottom approach to non-discrimination policies and procedures: then his or her organization sets a clear expectation of conduct in the workplace that discrimination in any shape or form will not be tolerated (Bennett-Alexander, D., & Hartman, L., 2007). A proactive approach to addressing and monitoring this issue through every facet of an operation will provide a positive and productive workforce. The negative impact can be a devastating proposition, regardless of it being known or unknown within a workplace setting. The fines, scrutiny, public opinion, individual liability issues, lengthy litigation process can be detrimental to companies.

Who are Covered Under VII and its Amendments

Title VII Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers with 15 or more employees to discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion or national origin (EEOC, 1997). This law applies to federal, state and local employers. The above conditions may not be used to refuse to hire or for terminating an individual or in other words discriminate against any individual (EEOC, 1997). In order to release an employee in any of the above categories the employer must have documentation based on quantity or quality of production and the employer can also make this decision based on results of a professionally developed ability test, which cannot be used to discriminate (EEOC, 1997). If an employee feels they have been let go for an unjust reason they can file a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC, 1997). All rules and regulations of this origination apply, and it must be filed within 180 days after the occurrence (EEOC, 1997). There is an exception to this Act. Any organization that has less than 15 employees does not have to follow the above guidelines (EEOC, 1997).

Disparate Discrimination Under Title VII

When a charge for discrimination goes to court there is two theories that the employee can claim to bring suit under Title VII: disparate impact and disparate treatment (Bennett-Alexander, D., & Hartman, L., 2007). Disparate treatment is used in individual discrimination, and disparate impact is generally statistically based group cases alleging that the employer policy, facially neutral, has a disparate impact on a group protected by Title VII (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2007). In disparate treatment the individual feels that they have been discriminated against based on race, color, creed, etc, and with disparate treatment the Supreme Court has come up with their own guidelines to determine if discrimination