Four Equal Employment Opportunity Laws - Essay Example

Management Introduction The paper focuses on discussion of four important rights such as Civil Right Act, Age Discrimination Act, Pregnancy Discrimination Act and Equal Pay Act. The main purpose of enactment of these Acts is to protect and safeguard the interest of the employees or the workers working in the organization. The employees faced lot of hurdles and difficulties in the organization in the previous years. Therefore in order to protect their rights the law was passed and implemented. Discussion Civil Rights Act 1964 The Civil Rights Act 1964 was passed in order to protect and safeguard the rights of the employees. The organization is required to abide by this law while treating with their employees in the organization. The employers are required to abide by both state and federal laws and regulations. It restricts the discrimination made by the employers between the employees working in the organization (Wright, 2005). The Civil right Act was enacted on 2nd July 1964. This law was passed with the objective of eliminating the discrimination in the work place on the basis of caste, color, sex language etc. The example of this discrimination can be explained from the fact that the black Africans faced discrimination and humiliation while working in America which was noticed by the civil rights movement in the year 1950 and also in the year 1960. The employers in United States discriminated the Africans on the basis of their color, higher position and important job role was not assigned to them. The Africans faced humiliations in the work place before the enactment of this act; therefore this act was passed to safeguard the interest of the African employees and the employees all over the world. The employees experiencing discrimination is required to report to the EEOC which is in charge of safeguarding the interest of the employees who are discriminated. Equal Pay Act 1963 The Equal Pay act is considered as a very important act, this act is required to be followed by both the employers and the employees working in an organization. This act defines that the employer must pay equal pay for the equal work performed by the employees in the organization. This act prohibits the employer to discriminate the employees on the basis of their gender for performing the same piece of work (Ford, 2009). This act was passed on 10th June 1963 by John F Kennedy as a portion of his New Frontier Program. This act restricts the disparity between the male and the female employees in the organization. It is equally applicable for municipal, federal and state employers, religious entities and the nonprofit organizations. This Act is not applicable to the nonprofit organizations such as independent contractors and partners. It is observed that United States experienced an inequality between men and women. It is found that the women employees or workers were paid less as compared to the men for performing same piece of work. This Act makes the paying men and women separate for performing the same work because of their illegality in sex. The work does not require being same but it must be substantially equal. Age Discrimination in Employment Act 1967 The Age Discrimination in Employment Act 1967 explains that it prohibits or restricts the discrimination made by the employees in the organization on the basis of their age. The Act doesn’t discriminate the employees over 40 years of age. This Act was passed on 15 December 1967. This act was signed into law by President Lyndon B Johnson in the year 1967. This act strictly prohibits the use of the employees or the applicant age as a factor for hiring, recruiting or selecting the employees. This act is equally applicable in case of setting standards for pensions and the benefit provided by the employers and the various requirement and information related to the old employees are required to be provided to the employer (Sargeant, 2012). The organizations in United States discriminated the employees on the ground of their age. The employers hurt the old employees more than other employees Therefore the United States Supreme court took necessary action against it. The EEOC enforces ADEA. It possesses the right and the authority for investigating the claims of discrimination made between the employees working in the organization. If an employer is found discriminating an employee on the ground of age the EEOC will ask response from the employer and then it will take necessary steps for investigation. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is enacted for prohibiting the discrimination of sex on the basis of pregnancy. This act is considered as an amendment of the civil right act. It prohibits or restricts the employers with 15 or more than 15 employees and formulates that the women affected by childbirth, pregnancy and other medical related treatments are required to be treated in the similar way as other employees with same limitations or abilities (Solotoff and Kramer, 2014). This act was passed on 31st October 1978 which emphasizes that the employer cannot refuse to hire or recruit an employee only on the ground of pregnancy as long as the employee is able to perform his role or duty efficiently. It is observed that organization refuses to hire or recruit a pregnant employee and does not even provide maternity leave to its employees. Therefore this act was enacted to protect the rights of the pregnant employees. On the other hand there are few companies that follow and adopt the pregnancy act such as Accenture which provides a maternity leave of 8 months to its employees. The Supreme Court of United States mentioned when maternity benefits and work related accommodations are required to be provided to the pregnant employees. Conclusion From the above analysis and discussion of various rights it is clear that various acts are enacted and amended for facilitating the employees in the organization and providing them various benefits and amenities for performing their work in the organization. The main aim or the objective of enactment of this act is to create a healthy working condition for its employees. References Ford, L.F. (2009). Encyclopedia of Women and American Politics. New York: Infobase Publishing. Sargeant, M. (2012). Age Discrimination in Employment. Burlington: Gower Publishing, Ltd. Solotoff, L. and Kramer, H.S. (2014). Sex Discrimination and sexual harassment in the work place. New York: Law Journal Press. Wright, S. (2005). The Civil Rights Act of 1964: landmark antidiscrimination legislation. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. 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