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Civil Rights Act of 1964 was landmark legislation in the United States. The original purpose of the Bill was to protect black men from job-related and other discrimination, but it was later expanded to include protection for women. As a result, it provided political momentum for feminism. This Act prohibited discrimination in public facilities, in government, and in employment. The Jim Crow laws in the South were finally discarded, and it was illegal to compel segregation of the races in schools, housing, or hiring. Although initial enforcement powers were weak, they grew over the years, and such later programs as affirmative action were made possible by the Civil Rights Act.
President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill into law on July 2, 1964. Title VII of this Act outlaws discrimination in employment in any business on the basis of race, national origin, sex, or religion. Title VII only applies to employers with 15 or more employees. Title VII also prohibits retaliation against employees who oppose such unlawful discrimination (Author unknown, 1999). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces Title VII and investigates, mediates, and sometimes files lawsuits on behalf of employees. Title VII also states that an individual can bring a private lawsuit within 180 days of learning of the discrimination. In the late 1970s, courts began judging that sexual harassment was prohibited under the Act (Fitzgerald, 2003). Since then, Title VII has been supplemented with legislation prohibiting pregnancy,...
Currently, there is no federal law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. However, Congress continues to consider the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit sexual orientation employment discrimination (Williams, 1999).
Some examples of discrimination covered under Title VII include:
Harassing a person because of their friends', relatives', or associates' race, skin, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, or disability
Treating people in similar jobs differently
Making assumptions about the abilities of persons based on stereotypes, physical characteristics, or age
Retaliating against a person because a complaint was filed
Title VII also prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace (Williams, 1999), which may include:
Unwelcome sexual advances
Requests for sexual favors
Verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature
Sexually suggestive or offensive personal references about an individual
The following is an example of a comprehensive policy that a company may implement to avoid Title VII violations:
Conduct that has the purpose of interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an offensive or hostile work environment is prohibited. Harassment of any kind on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national origin, age or disability is forbidden. Examples…
References
Author unknown. Good-faith efforts' are enough to avoid punitive damages. (1999). AIDS Policy Law, 14(13), 12.
Fitzgerald, L.F. (2003). Sexual harassment and social justice: reflections on the distance yet to go. Am Psychol, 58(11), 915-924.
Williams, K.G. (1999). New sexual harassment rules under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Am J. Health Syst Pharm, 56(2), 117-118; 120.
Generally, this is the case when a person's job puts them at increased risk for violence, such as when that person is a cashier. Casino employees already work in an environment that increases the potential for violence; casinos generally feature a lot of money on the premises, a substantial amount of drinking alcohol on the premises, and people who have lost a significant amount of money. Due to these
Civil Rights Act of 1964 enforced the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution by ensuring a legislative act that would prevent discrimination and extend equal protection under the law. The bill in its entirety protects all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, national background, and gender. It was and still is considered to be a landmark bill, in spite of the fact that the Fourteenth Amendment already technically guarantees equal protection
The milestone that the Civil Rights Movement made as concerns the property ownership is encapsulated in the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which is also more commonly referred to as the Fair Housing Act, or as CRA '68. This was as a follow-up or reaffirmation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discussed above. It is apparent that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 outlawed discrimination in property and housing there
During the mid 1960s, "highly public demonstrations" (525) became more popular and gained momentum among the community because popular and significant individuals close to the cause supported them. The power and attention these protest garnered illustrated just how serious African-Americans were in achieving their goals. The protests proved to the people that they could do more than they thought they could. They could accomplish things even though they were
Civil Rights Jim Crow Jim Crow laws were a set of "black codes" designed to perpetuate a system of racism and near-slavery for African-Americans, predominantly in the South. The Jim Crow laws existed from the end of the Civil War until the Civil Rights movement -- nearly a century. Jim Crow laws represent a clear case of how racism becomes institutionalized. In the case of the Jim Crow laws, racism was embedded
These two laws constituted the real beginning of the end for Jim Crow laws and practices. EMPOWERING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT The civil rights movement may have gained impetus and cooperation among people with differing opinions and goals from what Canady (1998) called the "animating principle," or the principle that got people of differing views and backgrounds working effectively together: the idea that dignity was the right of all men, women