Employment & Discrimination Law

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal law that protects employees against discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex; also prohibits harassment based on the same protected categories.

disparate treatment

A form of intentional discrimination in which an employee is hired, fired, denied a promotion, or the like, based on membership in a protected class. This is a form of intentional discrimination.

disparate impact

A form of discrimination that raises when an employer's policy or practice appears to apply to everyone equally but its actual effect is that it disproportionately limits employment opportunities for a protected class.

quid pro quo

Form of sexual harassment that occurs when a supervisor makes a sexual demand on someone and this demand is reasonably perceived as a term or condition of employment.

Unintentional-Discrimination

Another word for Disparate-impact

Griggs v. Duke Power Co.

Case in which the employer-defendant required all applicants to have high school diploma and a successful score on a professionally recognized intelligence test for all jobs except laborer.

sexual harassment

Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that makes submission a condition of employment or a factor in employment decisions or that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment. The two type are hostile environment and quid pro quo.

Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services Inc.

Case that lead for same-sex harassment to be covered under CRA.

Is discrimination based on sexual orientation actionable?

No, federal legislation currently prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Defense of Marriage Act

Defines marriage to be between one man and one woman and permits states to disregard marriages legally performed in other states.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

Federal law that prohibits employers from refusing to hire, discharging, or discrimination, in terms and conditions of employment on the basis of an employee or applicant being age 40 or older.

American with Disabilities Act

Federal law that prohibits discrimination against employees and job applicants with disabilities. a

Equal Pay Act of 1963

Federal law that prohibits and employer from paying workers of one gender less than the wages paid to employees of the opposite gender for work that requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility.

Fair Labor Standards Act

Federal law requiring a minimum wage of a specified amount be paid to all employees in covered industries; also mandating that employees who work more than 40 hours in a week be paid no less that 1 1/2 times their regular wage for all hours beyond 40 worked in a given week.

Family and Medical Leave Act

Federal act requiring employers to provide all eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of leave during any 12-month period for several family occurrences. (e.g birth of a child, care of a sick spouse)

Unemployment Compensation

A state system, created by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, that provides unemployment compensation to qualified employees who lose their jobs.

workers' compensation laws

State laws that provide for financial compensation to employees or their dependents when a covered employee is injured on the job.

Consolidates Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act

Federal law that ensures that when employees lose their jobs or have their hours reduced to a level at which they would not be eligible to receive medical, dental, or optical benefits from their employer, the employees will be able to continue receiving benefits under the employer's policy for up to 18 months by paying the premiums for the policy.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act

Federal Law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension and health plans in private industry to provide protection to individuals in these plans.

Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970

Federal law that established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency responsible for setting safety standards under the act and enforcing the act through inspections and the levying o fines against violators.

Employer privacy policies should cover the following issues:

-Employer monitoring of telephone conversations.

-Employer surveillance policies.

-Employee access to medical and personnel records.

-Drug test policies

-Lie detector policies

-Ownership of computers and all issue unique to the electronic workplace.

Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968

Federal Statute banning employers from listening to the private telephone conversations of employees or disclosing the content of these conversations. Employers may ban personal calls and monitor calls for compliance as long as they discontinue listening to any conversation once they determine it is personal.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986

Federal law that extended employees' privacy rights to electronic forms of communication, including e-mail and cellular phones; outlaws the intentional interception of electronic communications and the intentional disclosure or use of the information obtained through such interception.

Collective Bargaining

The process whereby workers organize collectively and bargain with employers regarding the workplace.

Wagner Act

The first major piece of federal legislation adopted explicitly to encourage the formation of labor unions and provide for collective bargaining between employers and unions as a means of obtaining the peaceful settlement of labor disputes.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

An administrative agency created by the Wagner Act to interpret and enforce the National Labor Relations Act.

Taft-Hartley Act

Federal legislation designed to curtail some of the powers that unions had acquired under the Wagner Act; designated certain union actions as unfair.

Labor-Management Relations Act

Also called the Taft-Hartley Act

Landrum-Griffin Act

Federal legislation that primarily governs the internal operations of labor unions. It requires financial disclosures by unions, establishes penalties for financial buses by union officials, and includes "Labor Bill of Rights" to protect employees from their own unions.

The National Labor Relations Board's primary functions are:

-Monitor the conduct of the employer and the union during an election to determine whether workers want to be represented by a union.

-Prevent and remedy unfair labor practices by employers or unions.

-Establish rules interpreting the NLRA.

Which employees does the NLRB NOT have jurisdiction over?

-Those who work in federal, state, and local government

-Those covered by the Railway Labor Act

-Independent contractors

-Agriculture workers

-Household domestics

-Those employed by a spouse or parent.

-Supervisors, managerial employees and confidential employees.

Three major pieces of legislation that govern Labor-Management relations in the U.S

-The Wagner Act of 1935

-The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947

-The Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959

Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), employees must provide participants with all of the following:

-Plan information

-Assurance of the fiduciary responsibility of those in charge of managing and controlling the plan assets.

-A grievance and appeals process for participants to get benefits from their plans.

-The right to sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty.

Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1987

Act that temporary disability caused by pregnancy must be treated the same as any other temporary disability.

3 Step process of disparate-treatment discrimination

-Plaintiff (the employee) must demonstrate a prima facie case of discrimination.

-Defendant (the employer) must articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory business reason for the action.

-Plaintiff (the employee) must show that the reason given by the defendant (the employer) is a mere pretext.

The Civil Rights Act is divided into sections, called _________

Titles

Harassment by Non-employees under Title VII

Employers may be held liable for harassment of their employees by non-employees under very limited circumstances.

The Bona Fide Occupational Qualification Defense

allows an employer to discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, religion or national origin (but not race or color) when doing so if necessary for the performance of the job.

The Merit Defense

when hiring or promotion decisions are partially based on test scores.

The Seniority System Defense

Where employees are given preferential treatment based on their length of service