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Employment Discrimination Law

A guide to research in employment discrimination law.

Statutes

Federal statutes prohibiting employment discrimination are found in Titles 29 and 42 of the U.S. Code. Listed below are the most important statutes for employment discrimination law. The links provided here are to free versions of the law and so are NOT annotated with case citations and other reserach refcerences. To use an annotated version of the U.S. Code, you will need to access either Lexis (U.S. Code Service) or Westlaw (U.S. Code Annotated) or use the print versions in the library.

  • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e - 2000e17 (as amended), is the flagship of employment discrimination legislation. It prohibits covered employers from discriminiating on the basis of race, national origin, sex, or religion.
  • Prior to Title VII, Section 1981, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, enacted in the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and Section 1983, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, enacted in the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, could have given workers some protection against racial discrimination by all employers plus other forms of discrimination by state and local government employers. But these statutes lay dormant for a century after their passage. Today, they are a more active part of the employment discrimination arsenal.
  • The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 - 219, established a minimum wage, overtime pay, limits on hours, recordkeeping, and limits on child labor.
  • FLSA was amended in in 1963 by the Equal Pay Act (EPA). This legislation prevented discrimination in pay based on sex for substantially the same work. As codified, the EPA is scattered throughout the Fair Labor Standards Act in Title 29 of the U.S. Code. Here is an aggregation of the act, as now amended.  
  • The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 - 634 (as amended), prevents employers from discriminating against employees who are 40 or older.  
  • The Rehabiliation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §§ 791 - 794(f), prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability (and in some instances requires affirmative action) by federal agencies, federal contractors, other federal employers, and programs receiving federal assistance.
  • The Pregnancy Discrimination Act added section (k) to the definitions in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in 1978, 42 U.S.C. 2000e.
  • In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12101 - 12213 (as amended), into law.  Title I of this act prohibits employers from discriminating against those with disabilities and requires employers to make reasonable accomodations.
  • The Civil Rights Act of 1991 amended Title VII to allow for trial by jury along with the possibility of emotional distress and punitive damages (with caps). Here is the text of the law.
  • The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) adds/amends multiple sections of Titles 29 and 42 of the U.S. Code. Here is the text of the law as enacted in 2009.

 

 

 

Agencies

When instructed by Congress, federal agencies enact regulations to specify and enforce the law. These regulations have the force of law.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the agency tasked with enforcement of many of the anti-discrimination laws. Its website is a rich resources for information, laws, regulations, guidance, publications, etc.

Other agencies that address or provide assistance with certain aspects of employment discrimination include:

Department of Labor

Department of Justice

National Labor Relations Board

Small Business Administration

 

Finding Regulations

The simplest way to find the most relevant regulations is to use the websites of specific federal agencies, such as the EEOC. Most agencies keep their regulations available and up-to-date.

More comprehensive searching can be done in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The CFR is by far the easier tool for research purposes.There are 5 basic ways to go about finding regulations in the CFR:

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  • by citation;
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  • by subject in the index;
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  • by title in the table of contents;
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  • using term searching;
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  • from statutory code sections.

Most beginning researchers jump right to searching the full text with a few terms, but many times this will not be the most effective approach. Regulations are infamous for using very particular language, so a combination of search techniques may be your best bet.

Lexis and Westlaw offer the most sophisticated searching of the CFR. In addition, you can use their annotated statutory codes (USCS and USCA) to link from a statute to relevant regulations. 

For free access to regulations, you can search the e-CFR. Notice that there are advanced search options in the left side panel if you need to be more specific.