This document provides an overview of key US employment legislation and laws that aim to protect employee rights and prohibit discrimination. It summarizes several landmark acts such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It also discusses the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and other laws. Additionally, it covers topics like affirmative action, reasonable accommodation, adverse impact, and the enforcement agencies responsible for these employment rights.

1. Workforce
Planning and
Employment
Laws and Legislation
PHR/SPHR Preparation

2. Employee Rights Legislation

3. Employee rights legislation
 Numerous laws and regulations aims to
end discrimination (a sensitive issue in the
American society).
 Discrimination practices hold employers
liable

4. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964)
 The cornerstone of antidiscrimination legislation in
US.
 Prohibits discrimination or segregation in all terms
of employment based on:
 Race
 Color
 Gender
 Religion
 National Origin
 Make it unlawful to limit, segregate or classify
employees in any way that would deprive them
employment or career progression opportunities
based on the characteristics above.

5. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
(1964)
 Provides equal opportunity to participate
in training and have opportunity for
advancement.
 Makes it illegal to discriminate based on
pregnancy, childbirth, or related
condition as amended by Pregnancy
Discrimination Act.
 Prohibits sexual harassment
 Prohibits discrimination in compensation.

6. Title VII – Coverage
 Most private employers with 15+ employees
on payroll.
 All educational institutions
 Federal, state and local governments.
 Public and private employment agencies as
employers and when referring for
employment.
 Labor unions with 15 or more members
 Joint (labor-management) committees for
apprenticeships and training

7. Title VII – Exceptions
 Work-related requirements: practices that
may lead to discrimination against a
protected class can be considered legal if it is
job-related and required by a business
necessity.
 Bona fide occupational qualification : if
gender, religion, or national origin is a bona
fide occupational qualification necessary for
a job.
 Seniority systems

8. Civil Rights Act
 Allowed jury trials for cases where plaintiff
seeks compensatory or punitive damages.
 Provides (with limits) damage awards to
victims of intentional discrimination in violation
to:
 Title VII
 Americans with Disabilities Act
 Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act (which
applies to federal governments employees only)

9. Age Discrimination in
Employment Act-ADEA (1967)
 Prohibits discrimination against persons of age
40 and over.
 Exceptions:
 If age is a bona fide occupational qualification
 Executive and high policy makers can be
required to retire at age 65 if they are entitled to
receive company-sponsored retirement benefits
of at least $ 44,000 and have held their position
for two years prior to retirement.

10. Pregnancy Discrimination Act
(1978)
 Under the law it is illegal to fire or refuse to
hire a woman because of pregnancy.
 Employer can not force a pregnant to
leave as she ready, willing and able to
perform her job.
 Employer should continue accrued
seniority of an employee on leave to give
birth or have an abortion.

11. Americans with Disabilities Act-
ADA(1990)
 Applies on employers with 15+ employees
 Prohibits unlawful discrimination against
qualified individuals with disabilities because
of the disability.
 Qualified means can perform the essential
functions of the job with or without
accommodation.
 ADA Amendment Act –ADAAA (2008)
amended and added more details to ADA

12. ADA- Key Definitions
 Disability: physical or mental impairment that
substantially limits one or more major life activities.
Major life activities include:
 Transferring/ mobility
 Toileting/ personal hygiene
 Bathing and dressing
 Essential functions of the job: the primary duties of a
job that can be performed by a qualified individual
with or without accommodation.

13. ADA- Key Definitions
 Reasonable accommodation:
adjustments or modifications of job
application process, work environment or
circumstances to enable a qualified
individuals with disability to be considered
for a job and perform the essential
functions of the job.

14. Genetic Information
Nondiscrimination Act – GINA
(2008)
 Prohibits discrimination based on genetic
information in both employment and
health insurance.
 Prohibits the employer from requesting,
requiring or purchasing genetic
information on the individual or family
member. But, these exceptions apply:

15. GINA Exceptions
 If the employer inadvertently requires or
requests family medical history of the
employee or family member.
 For genetic services offered by the
employer including wellness programs.
 For compliance with Family and Medical
Leave Act.
 When employer purchases commercially
available documents

16. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
(2009)
 Creates an open time frame for filing wage
discrimination claims.
 Before this law, the employee could file
discrimination claim within 180/300 days of the
occurrence of the discrimination according to Title
VII.
 the clock renews (regarding the 180/300 days)
each time employee receives compensation that is
based on the alleged discrimination

17. Uniform Guidelines on Employee
Selection Procedure
 A procedural document created to assist
employers in complying with Title VII, Executive
Order 11246 and other laws.
 Covers all aspects of selection process.
 Adverse impact: occurs when a selection
procedure works to the disadvantage of a
protected class. If the selection rate of a
protected class is less than 80% of the selection
rate of the class with highest rate, this is considered
adverse impact.

18. Adverse Impact-Example
 It is also known as four-fifths rule.
 Example:
 Males are the majority group:
 20/50=40%
 Selection rate for females is less than 80% of
selection rate of males adverse impact
Group Interviewe
d
Hired Selectio
n rate
Males 40 20 50%
Female
s
30 6 20%

19. How to remedy adverse
impact
 Analyze data in more depth. Analysis of
selection process components may not
reveal adverse impact.
 Modify the procedure
 Stop the procedure and discard existing
results.
 Validate the job relatedness of the procedure
 Justify the procedure as a business necessity.

20. Vietnam Era Veterans
Readjustment Assistance Act
 Law enacted to enable Vietnam veterans
rejoin labor market and prohibit
discrimination against them.
 It applies to the federal government and
federal government contractors and
subcontractors of $50,000 entered before
01/12/2003
 It prohibits discrimination against these
categories of veterans:

21. Protected veterans
 Specially disabled veterans
 Vietnam era veterans
 Recently separated (within one year of
discharge)
 Other protected veterans (the book
contains more details)

22. Jobs for Veterans Act
 Amended VEVRAA
 It applies to the federal government and
federal government contractors and
subcontractors of $100,000 entered after
01/12/2003
 Extended the protection of VEVRAA in
many aspect as:
 Included all disabled veterans
 Discharged veterans within 1-3 years.

23. Rehabilitation Act (1973)
 Prohibited discrimination based on mental
or physical disabilities.
 Applies to federal government and
federal contractors with contracts over
$10,000.
 According to the law, employers are
required to provide reasonable
accommodation for the qualified
disabled employees/ candidates unless
undue hardship can be demonstrated

24. Rehabilitation Act (1973)
 Undue hardship may be based on
business necessity or financial costs.

25. Immigration Reform and
Control Act (1986)
 Regulate the work of foreigners in the US
 Determines the types of visas for different
worker categories
 Determines the acceptable documents
that demonstrate the identity and right to
work in the US
 Determines the mechanism for employers
to verify the eligibility of employees to
work in US.
 A lot of detail, read thoroughly

26. Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act (1988)
 The law requires that covered employers
to give a minimum of 60 days notice for
plant closing or mass layoff to reduce the
impact on affected employees.
 Covered Employers:
 Employers who employ 100 full time
employees
 Or Employers who employ full and part time
employees working at least 4,000
hours/week

27. Congressional Accountability
Act
 It requires that federal employee relations
legislation enacted by the congress apply
to the employees of the congress.

28. Legislation Affecting Privacy
and Consumer Protection

29. Privacy Act (1974)
 This law protects the employment records
of the federal government from disclosure
without written authorization by the
employee.

30. Employee Polygraph
Protection Act (1988)
 It prevents employers from using lie
detector tests for pre-employment
screening or during employment, with
certain exceptions.
 it prohibits the employer to require,
request, suggest, or cause an employee
or prospective employee to take or
submit to any lie detector test.

31. Employee Polygraph
Protection Act (1988)
 it prohibits the employer use, refer, or
inquire about the results of any lie
detector test of any employee or
prospective employee.
 Prohibits discharge, discipline, discriminate
against, deny employment, or threaten to
take action against an employee or
prospective employee for refusal to take
a test, on the basis of the results of a test,
for filing a complaint under the act or for
exercising any rights afforded by the act

32. Exceptions
 Federal, state and local governments
 Tests administered by the federal
government for federal contractors
engaged in national security, intelligence
or counterintelligence functions
 To employees reasonably suspected of
involvement in a workplace incident that
results in economic loss to the employer
 To prospective employees in certain jobs
and industries, security guards, employees
of pharmaceutical firms

33. Consumer Credit Protection
Act (1968)
 The acts limits the amount of wages that
can be garnished or withhold in any week
by an employer to satisfy creditors by 25%
of disposable income in general.
 It allows for 50% of disposable income for
court orders related to child support or
alimony.

34. Fair Credit Reporting Act
(1970)
 Employer must obtain a written
authorization before a consumer report is
ordered.
 Consumer reports may include reports
about: credit reports, criminal
background checks, motor vehicle history
and reference checks.

35. Fair Credit Reporting Act
(1970)
 Employer must provide:
 Written notice that a consumer report may
be used.
 A copy of the report and notice of adverse
action (if taken) within three days.
 Written response to any request for
complete disclosure within 5 days

36. Fair and Accurate Credit
Transactions Act (2003)
 Amended Fair Credit Reporting Act and
relieved employers to use third parties for
workplace investigations
 Eliminated consent and disclosure when a
third party conducts investigation that
involves:
 Suspected misconduct
 Violation of law or regulations
 Violation of any preexisting written policies of
the employer

37. Equal Employment
Opportunity/ Affirmative
Action

38. Equal Employment
Opportunity - EEO
 Antidiscrimination legislation promised to
stop taking employment decision based
on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age,
color, military/veteran status or disability.
 Decisions must be job and business
related.
 Protected class: people who are covered
under a particular antidiscrimination law

39. Types of Discrimination
 Disparate treatment: occurs when
intentionally treating a protected class
differently than other employees.
 Examples:
 Refusing to promote a female employee to
a managerial position because women
usually “does not succeed here”
 Disciplining black employees when they
violate policies while neglecting the
violations of the white.

40. Types of Discrimination
 Adverse/disparate impact: occurs when
applying the same rules to all employees
results in a negative effect on a protected
class. Usually unintentional.
 Examples:
 Hiring high school graduates for a specific job
may affect classes with limited access to
education.
 Requiring that applicants should lift specific
weight in order to be hired may reduce the
opportunity of women

41. Types of Discrimination
 Perpetuating past discrimination:
practices that repeats past policies like
giving preference to applicants referred
by current employees may appear
neutral, but it may maintain the current
mix.

42. Landmark Cases for
Antidiscrimination Legislation

43. Griggs vs. Duke Powers (1971)
 Employment discrimination need not to
be overt or intentional to be illegal
 Employment practices can be illegal
even if applied to all employees
 Places the burden on the employer to
prove that requirements are job related.

44. McDonnell Douglas Corp vs.
Green (1973)
 Established the criteria for disparate
treatment.
 Ruled that a “prima facie” (on first view)
case of disparate treatment can be
shown if an employee:
 Belongs to a protected class
 Applied for a job when employer sought
applicants
 Qualified yet rejected
 Was rejected by the employer kept looking
for candidates.

45. Albemarle Paper vs. Moody
(1975)
 Tests used for selection/ promotion must
be valid predictors for job success.

46. Washington vs. Davis
 Test is legal if it is job related even though
it has adverse impact

47. St. Mary’s Honor Center vs.
Hicks (1993)
 Employee must prove that an employer’s
reason for adverse impact is based n a lie
and that lie was to cover up
discrimination

48. Mckennon vs. Nashville Banner
Publishing Co. (1995)
 After acquired evidence cannot free
employer from discrimination liability

49. EEO Reporting
 A governmental body has been created
to enforce antidiscrimination laws; Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC).
 employers with 100+ employees or
federal contractors with 50+ employees
and contracts of $50,000 are required to
send annual reports about their
workforce.

50. Report Form
 The report should include breakdown of
the workforce by race, ethnicity and
gender for nine job categories.
 different forms available based on
industry.

51. Applicant flow data
 Federal contractors and subcontractors must
be able to identify, where possible, the
gender, race, ethnicity of each applicant.
 Applicant can be defined as anyone who
expresses an interest in employment
regardless of being qualified.
 Employer can request applicants voluntarily
to fill a self-identification form to provide
gender, race, ethnicity.
 Visual survey is a second option.

52. Affirmative Action
 Affirmative action (AA) is a practice in which
employers identify and correct any imbalances
in underrepresentation of protected classes in
the workforce (if exists).
 Federal laws that apply to federal contractors
and subcontractors that impose AA include:
 Executive order 11246
 VEVRAA and JVA
 Rehabilitation Act
 Legal obligations depend on contract value
and number of employees.

53. Affirmative Action Plans (AAP)
 Definition: written plans that focus on
hiring, training, compensating, promoting
and terminating underrepresented
groups.
 AAP contains narrative and statistical
components.

54. Major elements of AAP
 Organizational profile: shows the staffing patterns
to determine if barriers to EEO exist within any
organizational unit.
 Organizational display: provides graphical
representation of organizational units.
 Workforce analysis: a list of job titles ranked from
the lowest to highest paid within the
organizational unit
 Job group analysis: list of all job titles that
comprise each job group.
 Availability analysis: study of the internal and
external sources to determine theoretical
availability of women and minorities for
established job groups

55. Availability analysis
 Organization must examine the percentage
of minorities or women with requisite skills in
the reasonable recruitment area and
percentage of minorities or women among
those promotable, transferable, and
trainable within the contractor's organization
 The organization must compare percentages
of minorities and women with availability and
establish placement goals if considerable
differences (underutilization) exist.

56. Auditing for EEO and AAP
 Compliance review: comprehensive analysis
and evaluation of the organization hiring
and employment practices, AAPs and the
result of AA efforts.
 Off-site review: consists of analysis and
evaluation of AAP and supporting
documentation.
 Focused review: consists of on-site review
focused on one or more areas of AAP and its
application.

57. Fairness issues
 Reverse discrimination: courts has
consistently allowed temporary
preference to protected classes. Many
cases have dealt with this situation.
 Quota vs. merit hiring: Quota involves
hiring fixed number of individuals based
on protected classes that must be met at
all costs. Quota are usually not allowed by
courts.
 Bona fide occupational qualification:
very narrow exception and checked
thoroughly by courts.

58. Employment Practices Liability
Insurance
 Covers organizations against workers
claims of rights violations.
 Covers legal costs regardless of the final
judgment.
 Does not cover:
 Punitive damage
 Liabilities covered by other insurance.
 Employer may have duty to notify the
carrier upon receipt a letter from a lawyer
even if no claim has been filed.

59. Gender Discrimination and
Harassment in the Workplace

60. Types of Sexual Harassment
 Quid pro quo: means “this for that”.
Occurs when an employee is forced to
choose between giving in to superior’s
sexual demands or forfeiting an
economic benefit.
 Hostile Environment: occurs when sexual
or other discriminatory conduct is so
severe and pervasive that it interferes with
an individual’s performance. It can be
created by supervisors, coworkers or
nonemployees such as customers.

61. Precedent-Setting Harassment
Cases
 Meritor Savings Bank vs. Vinson: Held that
sexual harassment violates Title VII of the civil
rights act.
 Harris vs. Forklift System, Inc.: established the
“reasonable person” standard.
 Onacle vs. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.:
established same gender harassment is
actionable.
 Faragher vs. City of Boca Raton and Ellerth vs.
Burlington Northern Industries: held employer
liable for supervisory harassment that resulted in
adverse employment action.

62. Employer Response to
Harassment
 Have a written policy with clear definition
of harassment and a statement that it will
not be tolerated.
 Establish effective complaint procedure
 Provide training
 Investigate every complaint
 Discipline if necessary
 Communicate using multiple methods to
management and employees.