Discrimination Law - An Overview

The federal government of the US has enacted various discrimination laws to prevent any harassment to susceptible groups such as Afro Americans, Anglo Indians, and women employees. Each and every discrimination law has been implemented with more clarification to protect the rights of people who are susceptible to such exploitation. Though discrimination laws exist, yet people are subjected to various forms of discrimination in the US today.

Why does discrimination still persist in workplaces? First, because people are less aware of their rights and the laws of discrimination are very complicated. Second, there are many exceptions and legal formulations which are beyond one's understanding, consequently the laws are never clear to people.

If a person suffers from disability due to excessive smoking, he cannot claim disability rights from his office. In that case, he won't be subject to any discrimination. The fact is that it is not so easy to prove discrimination. One has to prove that the treatment that he or she was subjected to is actually abusive and not normal.

There are specific acts that have been passed at various points in time as discrimination laws to protect the rights of people. These acts have been established by Congress. They are also called regulations or statutes. These laws make it illegal for any person to discriminate any other person on the grounds of age, race, sex, nationality, religion, or disability.

Even States have been given the legislative power to formulate and enact laws that relate to discrimination. It is seen that discrimination is practiced in workplaces. Hence, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces all significant federal statutes that are related to employment.

Here are the Acts that basically form the discrimination laws in the US:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: This act had been enacted to prohibit employment in any sector on the grounds of discrimination in respect of religion, race, sex, color, or a nationÂ's origin. Based on this act you can claim your rights if you have been disqualified in any selection process for this grounds.

Equal Pay Act of 1963 (Also called the EPA Act): This act was enacted to eliminate sex-based wage discrimination. According to this act, persons who perform equal amount of work will get the same wage.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (also called ADEA): It prevents the discrimination of persons whose age is 40 years or more. To get a more efficient human resource, organizations often fire aged persons due to their view that these aged persons have less energy and capacity to work hard. With the enforcement of this act, this doesn't happen.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA - Title I and Title V): This Act has been passed to significantly reduce employment discrimination against qualified disabled people in local or state government jobs or in private sector jobs.

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 501 and 505): This Act protects the rights of qualified disabled employees of the federal government.

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 (CRA Act): The Act clearly states about the provision of monetary damages when the discrimination is carried out willfully or with some prior intention. The disparate impact of actions is also clarified by this Act.

These Acts passed by the federal government redress any illegal discrimination against any person by the majority. If you are subjected to any form of discrimination, you can consult discrimination law for your protection and rights. The law also enforces due punishment for such violation of acts by anybody.