|
Workplace
Discrimination
About
discrimination in the workplace
Title
VII of the Civil Rights
Title
42 of the United States Code
The
Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act
Equal
Pay Act
The Americans
with Disabilities Act or ADA
About
Discrimination
Discrimination in the workplace can take on many
forms. If a co-employee is treated better or worse
because of the color of their skin, their race,
their creed, their national origin, their religious
beliefs, their age, or their disability, this
can be actionable discrimination. Not all forms
of discrimination are actionable, which means
that there is a legal remedy for the harm done.
Generally, in Alabama, the "at-will"
rule applies to most employment situations. Unless
you have a written contract of employment to the
contrary, you can be terminated for a good reason,
a bad reason, or for no reason at all. Of course,
that includes all acts of discipline up to and
including termination.Þ It is against the law
for a protected person to be treated adversely
in the terms and conditions of their employment.
Federal and State laws determine who is protected.
Title
VII of the Civil Rights
In 1964, Congress enacted Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act which makes it unlawful to discriminate
in employment because of race, color, religion,
sex, national origin, or in retaliation for complaining
of such violations.Þ Only employers with 15 or more
employees are covered under this statute.Þ Under
this law, before you can seek a remedy in court,
you must file a Charge of Discrimination with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) within
180 days after the discriminatory conduct.Þ The
time is shortened to 30 days to file a Charge of
Discrimination for federal employees.Þ After an
investigation, the EEOC will issue a determination
as to whether there appears to have been discrimination.Þ
The EEOC will also decide whether or not to actively
pursue a remedy in a court of law if it does find
actionable discrimination.Þ If it does not, then
once a "Right to Sue" notice is received
from the EEOC, an aggrieved employee will have 90
days in which to file a lawsuit.
TOP
Title
42 of the United States Code
Section 1981 of Title 42 of the United States
Code makes it illegal for public or private sector
individuals or entities, including employers,
to discriminate intentionally on account of a
person's race or on account of a person's status
as an alien in the making of a contract.Þ Under
this law, there is no EEOC Charge of Discrimination
filing requirement.Þ In Alabama, the time limitation
for filing a Section 1981 suit is two years from
the discrimination.
The
Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act
The Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act
prohibits discrimination based on a person's age,
if that person is 40 years of age or older, and
the employer has 20 or more employees.Þ Under
this law, there is a Charge of Discrimination
filing requirement with the EEOC which must be
done within 180 days of the discriminatory conduct.Þ
An aggrieved person must waitÞ 60 days after filing
the charge or until the EEOC finishes its investigation.Þ
The aggrieved employee has to file suit within
3 years if the discrimination was willful or within
two years if it was not.
Equal
Pay Act
Another federal law, the Equal Pay Act, prohibits
discrimination based on sex and the compensation
between employees performing the same kind of
work.Þ There is no EEOC Charge of Discrimination
filing requirement under the Equal Pay Act.Þ The
aggrieved emloyee has to file suit within three
years if the discrimination was willful or within
two years if it was not.
TOP
The
Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits
discrimination in the workplace on the basis of
an individual's disability.Þ In order to seek
protection under this federal law, a person just
be able to prove that they have a disability as
that term is defined under the Act, and also must
make a request for a reasonable accommodation
which would allow them to perform the essential
functions of their job, or the job sought.Þ There
is also a Charge of Discrimination filing requirement
with the EEOC within 180 days of the discriminatory
conduct.Þ The same principles apply to private
lawsuits under the ADA as they do under Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 following
a Charge of Discrimination filed with the EEOC.Þ
Alabama
Exceptions
In
Alabama, there are several exceptions to the
general "at-will" rule which prohibit
discrimination in the workplace.Þ û25-5-11.1
prohibits an employer from discriminating against
a person who is hurt on-the-job and who makes
a claim for worker's compensation benefits.Þ
That same statute also prohibits an employer
from terminating an employee's employment because
that employee has filed a written notice of
a safety violation under the worker's compensation
code.Þ Section 12-16-8.1 of the Code of Alabama
prohibits employers from terminating employees
who respond to a jury subpoena.Þ Section 36-25-24
of the Alabama Code prohibits a supervisor from
discharging, demoting, transferring or otherwise
discriminating against a public employee based
on that employee's reporting a violation or
what he or she believes to be in good faith,
a violation of the Ethics Act, or giving testimony
concerning an ethics violation.
Alabama
has also enacted its own Age Discrimination
in Employment Act, which mirrors the federal
Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibiting
discrimination on the basis of age, if the aggrieved
employee is over 40.Þ There is no EEOC Charge
of Discrimination filing requirement under the
Alabama version of the law.
TOP
|
