History of Employment Discrimination Law
Protections against employment discrimination are strictly statutory. Common law afforded employees no protection against discrimination. Indeed, common law viewed the entire employment relationship as a private contractual matter that should be free from judicial interference.1
Notwithstanding the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1870, the first effective antidiscrimination employment statute was a long time in coming. The first fed- eral legislation to deal directly with the issue of discrimination was the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (see Chapter 18 for more details). The statutory right to equality was expanded beyond the issue of pay less than a year later by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII is the basis for discrimination law and judicial deci- sions in such matters. Although it has been amended many times, its basic purpose is to prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Title VII was first amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. This amendment gave the act’s enforcer, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), greater powers—for example, the right to file suits in federal district court. In 1975, Title VII was again amended, with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which defined “sex” discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and childbirth.
Laws have also been enacted to protect against discrimination because of age or handicap. Discrimination on the basis of age was prohibited by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (discussed later in this chapter). Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, federal contractors are prohibited from discriminating against certain employees in performing their contracts. With the Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, employers of 15 or more