History and Evolution
In years past an employee or potential employee did not have many rights concerning discrimination by an employer. However, in 1964, the federal government adopted and passed The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Contained within this act is Title VII, which states that employers are barred from discriminating against any person with respect to compensation or other terms and conditions of employment on the basis of that person's race, color, religion, sex or national origin. As more and more women have entered the workforce in the last several decades, there
has been a heightened awareness of the problem of sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
The legislative history of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, of which Title VII came in the midst of the Civil Rights movement and the turmoil of the South, was predominately about racial fairness for blacks, not gender equality of women. The later addition of sexual discrimination is not particularly helpful in determining what Congress had in mind when it added protection for discrimination based on sex.
Impact of Title VII
It is extremely important that the rules of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) are clearly understood within the workplace. Today, organizations must be equally concerned about any behavior that may have the effect of being discriminatory. Title VII has forced organizations to have stronger human resource management teams and corporate lawyers to sort through existing and future company policies. This creates an additional financial burden for the organization. Based on documented Title VII litigation from other organizations, many companies try to tailor their policies around the outcome.
The U.S. Supreme Court has recently de ...