Business Law - Chapter 30

U.S. Constitution

prevents discrimination in government employment areas (protects government employees).

1866 Civil Rights Act

protects against RACIAL discrimination i.e. ex-slaves. A popular tool for recovery as claims are valid for 4 years and there are unlimited damages.

1963 Equal Pay Act

right the historical wrongs of women being paid less than men; employers can't pay employees of the OPPOSITE SEX for doing EQUAL work.

EEOC

agency tasked with enforcing the civil rights act of 1964, equal pay act of 1963, and FSLA.

Protected Class

5 classes: race, color, religion, national origin, and gender. (NOT beauty, weight, etc.)

Adverse Employment Action

anything that happens in the employment process from before being hired to the end of the week.

1964 Civil Rights Act

prevents job discrimination against protected classes. Under this act, claims are valid for 6 months.

EEOC Claim Process

File Claim => EEOC decides to take it or not. If they decide to take it, they represent you through litigation (free lawyers). If they refuse, they give you a "right to sue letter", it's on you.

Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act

offers ways to sue; disparate treatment discrimination, disparate impact discrimination, sexual harassment/harassment, employer retaliation, discrimination based on religion, and discrimination based on sex.

Disparate Treatment Discrimination

2 people feel that they are SIMILARLY SITUATED but are TREATED DIFFERENTLY. Needs 1. Plaintiff proves that they're a member of a protected class, 2. Plaintiff proves it was an adverse employment action, 3. Plaintiff proves some evidence of discrimination. Then, the company proves why they did what they did, needing a legitimate reason for discrimination. Lastly, the plaintiff shows intentional discrimination.

Intentional Discrimination

proven with shifting justification or pretext.

Shifting Justification

the company changes the reason after they already stated their prior reason. Ex: Prior reason was "They were late.", but both men and women were late; changed to "They stole a highlighter."

Pretext

saying 1 thing, but meaning something else. It's not said, but something else is going on. Ex: the prior reason "They were late." against a woman doesn't apply because men were also late but not discriminated against.

Disparate Impact Discrimination

attempting to weed out a protected class by making it apart of a test that's NOT CONNECTED to the role. Ex: Hire a man and woman TA. They need to provide their resume, pass the interview, and lift a chair for 20 minutes. The man is more likely to win. Chair lifting is NOT related to the TA position.

Griggs v. Duke Power Co.

men worked in a warehouse for Duke Power. They installed a new policy, requiring a HS diploma and a literacy test. A race based group began failing those tests. Court ruled against Duke Power, because there wasn't a connection between the policy and the job.

Sexual Harassment

prove a quid pro quo or a hostile working environment. Doesn’t have to be sexual, it can be general too.

Quid Pro Quo

1 thing for another, an exchange. It becomes a violation when it's sexual harassment rather than an incentive; ex: Kiss => job, date => promotion.

Hostile Working Environment

show that something severe happened (ex: a person was attacked) or that someone happened more than once; NOT limited to men and women; can be M&M, W&W, religion, or any protected class.

Employer Retaliation

when seeing what happens to somebody else stunts your ability to report. Ex: someone reports an inappropriate massage and get fired. You're less likely to report because you don't want to lose your job.

Grutch v. Fox News

woman had a morning time slot (best slot) for Fox News. On a talk show featuring Roger Rales, she claimed he told her to turn around and bend over repeatedly, and also made a comment about sleeping together. After the report, she got moved to a different time slot, and wasn't rehired after her contract ended. She can report retaliation, disparate treatment, and harassment. Later won 25 million in the case.

Discrimination Based on Religion

employers can't favor specific religious practices OR require/forbid employees to participate in religious activity. Employers must also reasonably accommodate legitimately held religious beliefs UNLESS it causes undue hardship.

Gioff v. Dejoy

when the postal worker was hired, he took Sundays off (religious belief) for many years. After a collab with Amazon, they asked him to work Sundays, and he said no. He was fired. The company argued undue hardship because they were low on workers. The worker argued religious discrimination. The worker won.

Discrimination Based on Sex

based on attractiveness (weight/hair/makeup), which is NOT a protected class. Amended to include the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

Pregnancy Discrimination

prohibits discrimination on pregnancy.

Jesperson v. Harrah's

Darlene Jesperson worked for Harrah's for a long time. She never wore makeup. Later, they installed the 'Personal Best Grooming' policy, requiring women to wear a lot of makeup and curl their hair, and men to have clean haircuts and shave. She argued that the burden was greater for women. However, she lost the case.