Employment Discrimination

Employment Discrimination

Employment Discrimination laws seek to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, religion, national origin, physical disability, and age. A growing body of law also seeks to prevent employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Discriminatory practices include bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, compensation, retaliation, and various types of harassment.

Cry Wolf Quotes

[W]e feel that in a free competitive economy, the task of equal pay to women workers is properly within the province of collective bargaining and not of police action by the government.

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George Meaney, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
06/06/1953 | Full Details | Law(s): Equal Pay Act

[Joining unions, not] perpetuat[ing] a principal based upon the assumption that women are wards of the state [is the best way to reduce inequality]…[But gender inequality is] deeply rooted in our civilization [and what inequality cannot be dealt with through collective bargaining can only be dealt with through] evolutionary processes.

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William Cushing, legislative representative of the AFL.
04/24/1951 | Full Details | Law(s): Equal Pay Act

Removing the caps on damages sought by plaintiffs would likely prompt employers to protect themselves by purchasing expanded legal liability insurance. That added burden of insurance would increase the cost of doing business in the United States and may result in a reduction of employees’ wages and benefits and/or the hiring of fewer workers.

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Jeri G. Kubicki, NAM’s Vice President Human Resources Policy, The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Letter to Congress.

It's opening the door to a lot more claims. That means more burdens on employers in terms of in-house costs, keeping more records and outside legal fees. It's going to be costly for businesses.

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Beth Milito, senior executive counsel for the Small Business Legal Center at the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Inc.Com.

Evidence

Resources

University of California-Berkeley Labor Center carries out research on labor and workplace-related issues.

National Committee on Pay Equity is a coalition working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity.

National Women’s Law Center

is a prominent think tank and legal advocacy organization.

Institute for Women’s Policy Research is a prominent think tank that is largely focused on American women's issues. This covers everything from pay equity to welfare reform to domestic violence.