Identify and explain recent legislation, within the last 10 years, that helps to protect employees from discrimination in the workplace. Provide at least two federal legislative protections. Provide some insight when the federal legislation conflicts with the state.
The U.S antidiscrimination laws have been enacted to protect employees against workplace exclusion on the basis of sex, race, age, religion and national origin. Lebowitz (2008) further asserts that in addition, more recent legislations have been developed to provide employee protection on the basis of disability and age. All these legislations have specific requirements that employers must meet to ensure employee are given fair treatment in the workplace.
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The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is one such legislation which prohibits discrimination at the workplace on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, family status, national origin or disability. According to (Hudson, 2010) the Title VII is considered one of the major civil rights legislation that was enacted during the Civil Rights Movement. The author points that Title VII applies to private and public employers, with 15 or more fulltime employees (p. 222). Although employees who work for companies with less than 15 employees may not be covered under the legislation, state antidiscrimination laws can protect them. An example of such a state legislation is the Tennessee Human Rights Act, which protects full-time employees against workplace discrimination on basis of race, sex, religion and nationality.
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The Equal Pay Act is another employment discrimination legislation, which is based on principle of equal pay for equal work regardless of sex. According to (Twomey, 2012) the act was enacted as Section 6(d) of the Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA). The legislation prohibits employers from discriminating employees that are covered under the minimum wage requirements as outlined in FLSA by providing different remuneration to employees of another gender compared to the opposite gender, on basis of equal work in same job that demands similar skills, experience, efforts and responsibility (p. 523).
Another employee antidiscrimination law is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). This act was developed to protect individuals who are aged 40 and over. According to (Schneid, 2016) the ADEA is a primary law on federal level that offers protection to workers aged 40 or over against employment discrimination. The purpose for which the law was enacted was to promote the employment of workers aged 40-70 on the basis of ability rather than their age. Moreover, the law seeks to prohibit arbitrary discrimination by labour unions, companies and employment agencies against applicants, referrals, members and employees (p. 50).
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Moreover, the Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 provides protection to qualified employees with disabilities against discrimination in the private sectors and state and local governments. On the other hand, Sections 501 & 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 provides protection to qualified employees with disabilities, against employment discrimination within the federal government. Finally, the Civil Rights Act of 1990 provides monetary damages in case of employment discrimination. According to (Masters & Wallace, 2010) the Civil Rights Act of 1990 prohibits against discrimination of employees or applicants on basis of color, national origin, race, disability, age and sex.
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