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Racial Discrimination in the Workplace: Legal Aspect

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Submitted By Dtheis28
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Daniel Theis
2/10/2015
Paper 2: Multiple Source Research Paper Draft 1
Racial Discrimination in the Workplace: Legal Aspect Racial discrimination poses a large problem in the American workplace. While it isn’t seen as much as it was in the 1960’s it is just as prevalent today. Discrimination can happen at any stage of employment whether it be hiring, promotion, assignments, or termination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The law states that is unlawful employment practice to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Despite these restrictions on employer discretion, discrimination consistently keeps happening because of the enduring rule of employment at will. This rule is contradictory because it gives employers the chance to terminate employees without just cause. Employment at will undermines the effectiveness of employment discrimination law in bringing race equality to the workplace.
Ever since Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the tension between employment discrimination law and employment at will has been noticed. The main goal of Title VII, the first employment discrimination regulations, was to protect against race-based disadvantages, particularly the disadvantages faced by African Americans due to racism at the time. It also prohibited other discrimination including gender, national origin and religion, but most specifically Title VII was a civil rights movement that was growing and took aim to undo racial segregation and its disadvantaging effects on African Americans in employment and other institutions. It does this by protecting employees on an individual level, only if they were being treated badly as a member of a group, but does not protect individuals from all forms of unjustified treatment by the employer. This is a groundbreaking law, but

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