Professor W.A. Kritsonis -Discrimination in Employment Ppt

8/20/2019 Professor W.A. Kritsonis -Discrimination in Employment Ppt

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Discrimination in EmploymentPublic School LawLecture Notes

William Allan Kritsonis, PhD



Introductory Reection

"My knowledge of my years in Ecuador was not enoughto prepare myself to understand who I will become in theUnited States; a minority in a country full of laws a ndcontradictions. I married a good man who alleviated theinevitable consequences of my heavy accen t and skincolor. How? My husband is what you will call Hispanic

by race, but white by skin and appearance. As found myself in a dilemma when a doctor let me chooseif I wanted my child to be label Hispanic or White…”



What is Discrimination? In plain English, to "discriminate" means t o distinguish,

single out, or make a distinction. In everyday life, when faced with more than one option, we dis

almost every decision we m ake. But in the co ntext of civil

rights law, unlawful discrimination refers t o unfair or unequaltreatment of an individual (or group) based on certaincharacteristics. There a re t wo types of discrimination; Directand Indirect.



Types of Discrimination

Direct d iscrimination An example of direct discrimination is a job advert, which says "no disabled

people need apply." However, in reality discrimination often takes m ore su btleforms. That’s w hy indirect discrimination is a lso covered.

Indirect d iscrimination An example of indirect discrimination is requiring all people who apply for

certain job to s it a test in a particular language, even though that language isnot necessary for the job. The test might exclude more people who have adifferent mother tongue.



Title VI This law prohibits employment discrimination based on:

RaceColorReligionSexNational Origin



Age Discrimination In

Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) Protects employees or applicants 40 years ofage or older:

Cannot discriminate based on age with respect to any

term, condition or p rivilege of employmentPunitive & compensatory damages



Civil Rights Act 1972 AmendmentSexual harassment is a:

Form of sex discrimination Violation of federal law



Pregnancy Discrimination Act of1978

Amendment to Civil Rights ActUnlawful to discriminate on the basis of pregnancy,childbirth or related medical conditions



Americans with DisabiliProhibits d iscrimination on the b asis o f disability in allemployment practicesEmployer must make accommodation to knowndisability of qualied applicant or employee u nless it

imposes undue hardship



Affi rmative Action The intended purpose of Affirmative Action i

increase t he opportunity for minority groups

“You do not take a person …bring him up to the starting lineof a race a nd say, 'you are free t o compete with all the others,'and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.” –President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965



Employment Discrimination:U.S. Supreme Court Cases … Below is a l ist of U.S. Supreme Court cases involving

employees' rights and employment discrimination,including links to the full text of the U.S. Supreme Courtdecisions.

Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971)In this ca se, the Court decided that certain educationrequirements a nd intelligence t ests u sed as co nditions ofemployment acted to exclude African-American jobapplicants, did not relate to job performance, and wereprohibited.



Employment Discrimination: U.S.Supreme Court Cases …

Cleveland Bd. of Ed. V. LaFleur (1974)Found that Ohio public school mandatory maternity leaverules for p regnant teachers violate constitutional guaranteesof due process.Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986)

Found that a claim of "hostile en vironment" sexualharassment is a form of sex discrimination that may be

brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act




Johnson v. Transportation Agency (1987) The Court decides that a county transportation agency

appropriately took into account an employee's sex a s on efactor in determining whether she sh ould be promoted.Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Serv., Inc. (1987)In this ca se, the Court held that sex discriminationconsisting of same-sex se xual harassment can form the basisfor a valid claim under T itle VII of the C ivil Rights Act of1964.




Burlington Industries, Inc. Ellerth ( 1998)Holding that an employee who refuses u nwelcome andthreatening sexu al advances of a su pervisor (but suffersno real job consequences) may recover against theemployer without showing the em ployer is a t fault forthe su pervisor's a ctions.Faragher v. City of Boca Raton (1998)

The Court decides that an employer may be liable forsexual discrimination caused by a supervisor, butliability depends o n the reaso nableness o f theemployer's co nduct, as w ell as t he r easonableness o f theplaintiff victim's co nduct.



The Necessity ofContinued Enforcementof the Laws

Many people in this co untry st ill, unfortunately,are o pposed to the ideal of equality

Any lack of enforcement of

power to such people Although progress in achievmade due to the laws, true equ ality has n ot yet

been reached, and can only be further d iligence.



Civil Rights Act of 1991 The Civil Rights Act of ade major

federal laws a gainst employment discrimination enforced byEEOC. Enacted in part to reverse several Supreme Courtdecisions t hat limited the ri ghts o f persons p rotected by theselaws, the Act also provides a dditional protections. The Act

authorizes compensatory and punitive damages in cases ofintentional discrimination, and provides for obtainingattorneys' fees and the possibility of jury trials. It also directsthe EEOC to expand its technical assistance an d outreachactivities.



What Is EEOC and How Does ItOperate? EEOC is a n independent federal agency originally created by

Congress in 1964 to enforce T itle VII of the C ivil Rights Act of1964. The Commission is composed of ve Commissionersand a General Counsel appointed by the President andconrmed by the Senate. Commissioners are appointed forve-year s taggered terms; the General Counsel's t erm is four

years. The President designates a Chair and a Vice-Chair. The Chair is the chief executive officer of the Commission. The Commission has authority to establish equal

employment policy a nd to approve litigation. The GeneralCounsel is resp onsible for conducting litigation.EEOC carries ou t its en forcement, education and technicalassistance ac tivities t hrough 50 eld offices servi ng everypart of the n ation.

The nearest EEOC eld office may be contacted by calling: 1- 800-669-4000 (voice) or 1-800-669-6820 (TTY).



The answer …I chose the Hispanic label for my children. Irealized that labels a re m erely justications t o ourown fears.

"An individual has n ot started living u ntil he ca nrise above the n arrow connes of his individualisticconcerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.“

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Professor W.A. Kritsonis -Discrimination in Employment Ppt

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