Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on his or her membership—or perceived membership—in a certain group or category. It can involve someone acting or behaving in a certain way toward a certain group of people, or it can involve a person or institution restricting members of one group from opportunities or privileges that are available to another group. Several pieces of legislation protect groups and individuals from discrimination in the United States.
Human resource professionals are actively tasked with ensuring adherence to these laws and with upholding ethical standards in the workplace. Human resources departments collaborate substantially with legal departments in larger organizations, as the contractual and legal components of the hiring and firing process are inherently complex.
Protesting discrimination
Various laws protect people from discrimination.
The Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against women, as well as racial, ethnic, national, and religious minorities. It ended unequal application of voter-registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace, and in facilities that served the general public.
Title VII
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Title VII applies to and covers an employer "who has fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year." Title VII does not apply to employers with fewer than 14 employees. Title VII also prohibits discrimination against an individual because of his or her association with another individual of a particular race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. An employer cannot discriminate against a person because of his interracial association with another, such as by an interracial marriage.
The Violence Against Women Act
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law that initially provided 1.6 billion dollars toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted. VAWA also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.
The Equal Pay Act
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is a United States federal law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act; it is aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex. The law provides that no employer may discriminate between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees of one sex lower than employees of the opposite sex for equal work, the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which is performed under similar working conditions. Exceptions are made where payment is aligned to: