EEO Laws

*Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964-Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Title VII is a federal law applying to all employers in all states. Many states, including counties or cities, may have their own anti-discrimination laws that provide greater protection to the employee than Title VII alone; whichever law is most protective to the employee is applied.

* Compliance - Employers with 15 or more employees for each working day in 20 or more weeks in the current or previous year must comply.

* Enforcement - Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

* Damages - Potential damages include back pay, front pay, equitable relief, compensation and punitive damages up to 300K, and attorneys� fees.

* Provisions - An EEOC approved poster �Equal Employment Opportunity Is The Law� must be posted in a common area of the workplace or the employer may face up to $100 fine for non-compliance.

* Exceptions to Title VII -

1) Bona-fide Occupation Qualified (BFOQ): The BFOQ exception recognizes that in some extremely rare instances a person�s sex, religion, or national origin may be reasonably necessary to carrying out a particular job function in the normal operation of an employer�s business or enterprise. For example, a restroom attendant may be required to be male or female.

2) Religious Entity Exemption: Certain �religious entities� may be able to consider religion as a factor in employment decisions (e.g., require employees to be of a certain religion). They must still refrain from discriminating based on another protected status.

3) Bona-fide seniority or merit systems

* Civil Rights Act of 1991 -
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 expanded remedies for successful claims of intentional employment discrimination. Those who prove intentional discrimination under Title VII are now entitled to collect punitive and compensatory damages and attorneys� fees. The Act also permits jury trial under Title VII and ADA.

Since the Civil Rights Act of 1991 was passed, employers have to be more diligent than ever to stay clear of lawsuits because of the sheer cost of fighting and potentially losing a claim. Cost liabilities include: punitive damages of $50,000.00 for employers with 100 employees or less, $100,000.00 for 101-200 employees, $200,000.00 for 201-500 employees and $300,000.00 for more that 500 employees.