employment discrimination

• Illegal Job Discrimination


  Discrimination against workers on the basis of race, skin color, religion, gender, pregnancy, national origin, disability, age (if the employee is at least 40 years old), or union membership
• Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is likewise illegal in some locales
• Discrimination against people with disabilities is prohibited by the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Discrimination against United States citizens employed abroad by United States companies is prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1991
• Discrimination on the basis of age is prohibited by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• State statutes prohibit discrimination on grounds similar to the federal statutes, and many encompass additional protected classes, including marital status and arrest and conviction record
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964


  The federal statute that outlaws most grounds for discrimination
• Title VII prohibits discrimination not only in hiring and firing but also in promotion, access to training, disciplining, work assignments, shift assignments, vacation time, and more
• Disparate treatment discrimination


  Intentional discrimination based on considerations of race, color, religion, gender or national origin
• Disparate impact discrimination


  Neutral practices that result, often unintentionally, in unequal treatment
• Title VII covers employers with 15 or more employees
• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal government agency charged with enforcing Title VI's mandates
• Filing a Complaint


  1. Employee files a discrimination charge with the EEOC

  2. EEOC investigates and assesses the claim

  3. If EEOC finds grounds, it prepares a complaint and forwards it to the employer

  4. EEOC meets with the employer to try to reach a resolution

  5. If EEOC fails to act within 180 days, employee can request a right-to-sue letter

  6. Employee has 90 days to file a lawsuit in federal court after receiving the right-to-sue letter
• Remedies available to a successful plaintiff in a Title VII case


  • Injunction
  • Court order requiring the employer to adopt a policy forbidding discrimination and implement it
  • Attorney's fees
  • Back pay
• Compensatory damages


  Include future monetary losses, emotional pain and suffering, mental anguish, and other nonmonetary losses
• Punitive damages


  Can be awarded when the employer engaged in illegal discrimination "with malice or with reckless indifference to the federally protected rights" of the employee
• The Civil Rights Act of 1991 places a cap on the amount an employer will be obligated to pay (exclusive of back pay) in any one suit involving gender, religion, or national origin discrimination
• Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)


  Relieves an employer from liability for disparate treatment discrimination where selection of an employee based on gender, religion, age, or national origin is reasonably necessary for the normal operation of the employer's business
• Business necessity


  May relieve an employer of liability for disparate impact discrimination if a neutral selection criterion has an obvious relationship to job performance
• Prohibited interview questions


  • Questions about race, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, children, religion, disabilities or medical conditions, and arrest record
• Permissible interview questions


  • Questions about authorization to work in the US, ability to meet minimum age requirements, willingness to relocate/travel/work overtime, ability to perform job functions, and job-related criminal convictions
• Title VII outlaws discriminatory preference for any racial group, minority or majority
• Racial groups


  • Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Caucasian, Eskimo
• Title VII prohibits all types of racial discrimination, including refusal to hire, resistance to promote, unjustified firings, and other discrimination such as refusing to allow an Afro-American hairstyle or terminating a white employee for associating with a black colleague
• An employer can defend against a claim of discriminatory firing by establishing a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the termination
• A charge of discrimination made by a Caucasian dining-room supervisor was dismissed
• Prima facie case of discrimination


  1. Plaintiff is a member of a protected group 2) Plaintiff was qualified for the job and performing at a level that met the employer's legitimate expectations 3) Plaintiff was discharged 4) After discharge, the position was filled by someone not within plaintiff's protected class or the discharge occurred under circumstances giving rise to an inference of discrimination
• Shoney's stated a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for discharging Singh
• Shoney's reasonably believed the allegation contained in the petition, and acted on it in good faith
• Unsatisfactory job performance was proven by another employer in response to an Iranian Muslim worker's claim that his termination two months after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks was discriminatory
• A history of failing to "adhere to and properly enforce Food Safety procedures in his restaurant" resulted in the termination of an African American McDonald's manager
• Proof that other, Caucasian managers with similar violations were not terminated would establish discrimination
• If the hotel can prove the allegation that the plaintiff misappropriated hotel property, the plaintiff will need to present evidence showing that the hotel's explanation is a pretext
• One way a plaintiff can show the employer's explanation is pretextual is by showing that other employees who committed similar violations were retained
• To prove a racially hostile work environment, the plaintiff must show evidence that they were subjected to pervasive or severe harassment stemming from racial animus
• Employers have an obligation to ensure the workplace is tolerant and accepting of all races, and must take steps to train employees and enforce policies prohibiting such conduct
• Reverse discrimination occurs when a person of a majority race, which in the United States is Caucasian, sues based on race discrimination
• National origin discrimination refers to discrimination based on the country where people were born or from which their ancestors came
• If a plaintiff is unable to prove national origin prejudice on the part of the employer, the employee will likely not win a discrimination lawsuit
• Refusal to hire workers of, for example, Spanish ancestry violates Title VII