Four Most Important Equal Employment Laws
Labor and employment laws important to the workforce number in the hundreds if not thousands. Several federal, state and local laws prohibit employers from treating employees unfairly; other laws protect employees' civil rights. The four most important employment laws include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
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Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
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President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Title VII of the Civil Rights Act into law in 1964. Title VII prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, color and national origin, which are referred to by human resources experts as "protected" groups of employees. The law bans unequal treatment in the recruitment, hiring, training, promotion and termination stages of employment. This means an employer cannot recruit applicants who are a certain race, gender, national origin or color. Although promoting equality in job advertising sounds like a no-brainer, prior to the enactment of Title VII, it was not uncommon to see advertisements that indicated "men only" or other language that limited the pool of qualified applicants. Title VII also mandates fair employment practices in hiring, promoting and training employees. Therefore, it's unlawful for employers to deny jobs or career opportunities to workers based on personal characteristics or factors unrelated to job performance.
Equal Pay Act of 1963
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In response to gender inequality and discriminatory compensation structures and practices that relegated women to low-paying jobs or jobs that traditionally paid less than those offered to their male counterparts, the Equal Pay Act (EPA) sought to codify equality in the workplace through regulating employers' compensation practices. Employers who pay male and female workers in comparable jobs different amounts based on sex are in violation of the EPA. The EPA is not part of Title VII regulations; instead, the EPA is an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is the set of rules and regulations that cover minimum wage, working hours, overtime pay and exempt- and nonexempt-level employment status. Under the EPA, employers are also prohibited from retaliating against employees who exercise their right to complain about unfair pay practices.
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Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
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Workers who have disabilities are sometimes discriminated against because employers, employees and other organizations believe they don't have the requisite skills and qualifications to perform the essential functions of their jobs. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) made it unlawful for employers to deny employment, training and promotions to workers based on an actual or a perceived disability. An actual disability is one that's easily detected; a perceived disability is one employers cannot readily see but believe may hinder the employee's ability to perform certain jobs. The ADA also mandated what's called "reasonable accommodations," which means employers are obligated to provide a reasonable accommodation for employees who require it. Reasonable accommodations can range from a specially designed chair to facilitate physical mobility for disabled employees to low-cost magnifiers for vision-impaired workers.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
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Lilly Ledbetter, a former employee of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, sued her employer based on allegations that she was paid less than her male counterparts and that she received a pension unequal to that of male employees with similar jobs and tenure. Similar to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, made it illegal for employers to engage in unfair compensation practices. However, the Ledbetter Act also extended the time during which employees could file a complaint about wage disparities. The act further allowed claims against employers to cite each pay period or payday as an act of discrimination rather than unfair compensation in its totality.
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References
- FindLaw: Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964: Equal Employment Opportunity
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Equal Pay Act of 1963
- U.S. Department of Justice: ADA Update: A Primer for Small Business; 2011
- The New York Times: Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation; Sheryl Gay Stolberg; January 2009
- Nolo: The Equal Pay Act: Equal Pay for Women
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Compliance Assistance --- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
