Search Results

Contract Compliance in the United States and Canada

Christopher McCrudden

in Buying Social Justice: Equality, Government Procurement, and Legal Change

This chapter discusses the development of procurement linkage as a tool for tackling employment discrimination based on race, beginning in the United States during the Second World War, and ... More

This chapter discusses the development of procurement linkage as a tool for tackling employment discrimination based on race, beginning in the United States during the Second World War, and continuing during the 1950s and 1960s, mutating into a mechanism for securing affirmative action. It traces the development of this approach up to the early 1990s. The expansion of this approach to cover other groups in the United States is then considered, in particular the use of procurement to encourage the development of access by disabled workers to information technology. The chapter also examines the development of a type of procurement linkage in Canada that mirrors that of the United States: schemes that link the award of government contracts with attempts to secure ‘employment equity’ in employment for various groups, referred to as ‘contract compliance’. It is shown how the International Labour Organization (ILO) has adopted this contract compliance approach.Less

Reconciling Diverse Legal Traditions: Anti-Discrimination Law in the Member States

Mark Bell

in Anti-Discrimination Law and the European Union

This chapter examines the appropriate role of the European Union (EU) in anti-discrimination law. It provides an overview of existing national legislation, philosophies, policies, and traditions that ... More

This chapter examines the appropriate role of the European Union (EU) in anti-discrimination law. It provides an overview of existing national legislation, philosophies, policies, and traditions that this law represents. These are compared with the Article 13 directives in order to determine the extent to which existing national legal regimes have influenced the formulation of the directive. It analyses the impact of the directive on Member States' national laws on discrimination in employment.Less

Discrimination Law and the Human Rights Act 1998 *

Aileen McColgan

in Sceptical Essays on Human Rights

The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporates into British Law Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which provides that ‘the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this ... More

The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporates into British Law Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which provides that ‘the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status’. Article 14 has been widely, and rightly, criticised for its parasitic nature, the ECHR containing no free-standing prohibition on discrimination. This chapter examines the implications of incorporation of Article 14 for discrimination law in the United Kingdom. Currently, statute regulates discrimination on grounds of sex (including gender reassignment); race; disability; and (in Northern Ireland alone) religion and political opinion. In addition, specific statutory prohibitions are imposed in relation to some forms of work-related discrimination on grounds of trade union membership, enforcement of employment rights, etc. Discrimination on grounds of political or other opinion, social origin, property, birth, or other status is not generally prohibited.Less

Civil Rights Law and Policy Drifts: Pay Equity and LGBT Employment

Norma M. Riccucci

in Policy Drift: Shared Powers and the Making of U.S. Law and Policy

This chapter examines policy drifts in the area of civil rights. It begins with a brief review of the specific legal protections advanced for women and people of color since Reconstruction. It then ... More

This chapter examines policy drifts in the area of civil rights. It begins with a brief review of the specific legal protections advanced for women and people of color since Reconstruction. It then examines the politics surrounding efforts to restrict and then restore those rights for equitable pay for women. This chapter also examines efforts to pass a civil rights law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees, formally known as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). In particular, it illustrates how President Obama initiated a number of important policy drifts in the area of LGBT employment rights. The protection of LGBT individuals has been considered the new civil rights issue.Less

Introduction: Historical Overview of Race and Poverty from Reconstruction to 1969

C. Michael Henry

in Race, Poverty, and Domestic Policy

This introductory chapter focuses on the period of 1865 and 1970 to examine the historical factors that explain race and poverty amongst African Americans. These factors include economic stagnation ... More

This introductory chapter focuses on the period of 1865 and 1970 to examine the historical factors that explain race and poverty amongst African Americans. These factors include economic stagnation and retrogression, educational failure, employment discrimination, labor market discrimination, union barriers to employment, housing segregation, and black poverty. It also discusses anti-poverty policy and addresses the pecuniary costs of segregation and discrimination and human costs of the antiblack violence and white antipathy between 1866 and 1943.Less

Policy to Protect the Rights of Older Adults

Joan Davitt

in Handbook of Social Work in Health and Aging

This chapter focuses on select policies that protect the rights of older adults in relation to many of the above objectives. It begins by discussing those policies that prohibit employment ... More

This chapter focuses on select policies that protect the rights of older adults in relation to many of the above objectives. It begins by discussing those policies that prohibit employment discrimination due to age. It also addresses various policies that indirectly promote the civil rights of older adults by making discrimination based on disability illegal. In addition, the chapter addresses grandparents' rights, the patient's bill of rights, and the right to be free from abuse, neglect, or exploitation.Less

MacBride and the British Government

in The Macbride Principles: Irish America Strikes Back

This chapter argues that the Conservative government's campaign against the MacBride Principles, orchestrated by the Northern Ireland Department of Economic Development (DED), was flawed. From the ... More

This chapter argues that the Conservative government's campaign against the MacBride Principles, orchestrated by the Northern Ireland Department of Economic Development (DED), was flawed. From the beginning it sought to smear the MacBride supporters by association with Provisional Sinn Féin. This approach failed to influence most Irish-Americans and it was later referred to en passant rather than as a major argument. The attitude of UK officials in the US to Irish-Americans generally, and MacBride campaigners in particular, was often arrogant and patronising. The UK response lacked generosity of spirit and imagination, which led to a complete misreading of the Irish-American scene, to the detriment of its overall Irish policy.Less

Religious Discrimination and Retaliation

Raymond F. Gregory

in Encountering Religion in the Workplace: The Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Workers and Employers

This chapter examines how the law protects employees from acts of employer retaliation when they are engaged in exercising the rights granted them by Title VII. Employers have a tendency to react ... More

This chapter examines how the law protects employees from acts of employer retaliation when they are engaged in exercising the rights granted them by Title VII. Employers have a tendency to react negatively to charges of employment discrimination—whether religious, race, sex, national origin, age, or disability. Charges alleging retaliation in violation of Title VII precepts, filed annually with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, steadily increased between 1997 and 2009. Title VII makes it unlawful for an employer to retaliate against a worker who charges it with a discriminatory policy or practice or who participates in a legal or administrative proceeding relating to the company's employment policies or practices. This chapter provides an overview of Title VII proscriptions against retaliation as well as the major components of retaliation. It also considers court cases that center on issues that normally arise in religious discrimination cases when workers also charge their employers with retaliatory conduct.Less

Complementary Approaches: Japanese Disability and Employment Law

Ryoko Sakuraba

in Disability and Equity at Work

In Japan, positive discrimination toward people with disabilities exists. Public and private bodies are legally obliged to employ a certain number of people with disabilities (employment quotas). ... More

In Japan, positive discrimination toward people with disabilities exists. Public and private bodies are legally obliged to employ a certain number of people with disabilities (employment quotas). Several types of grants are also provided. On the other hand, the legal minimum wages may be reduced for them. These seemingly contradictory directions of policies are rooted in the idea that people with disabilities should be given employment opportunities to live their independent life. Apart from these “doctrines of labor contract,” a set of legal rules governing employment relations, provide people with disabilities with legal protection. For instance, when workers acquire disabilities during their course of employment, their employers are not legally allowed to dismiss them instantly. Antidisability discrimination law being introduced in the near future, the third approach, is expected to complement these measures by prohibiting disability discrimination at recruitment and hiring, as well as wage setting.Less

Multiracial Employment Discrimination

Tanya Katerí Hernández

in Multiracials and Civil Rights: Mixed-Race Stories of Discrimination

This chapter will closely examine the context of employment discrimination as it is the arena in which the greatest number of multiracial discrimination claims are filed (as compared to other areas ... More

This chapter will closely examine the context of employment discrimination as it is the arena in which the greatest number of multiracial discrimination claims are filed (as compared to other areas of discrimination law examined in later chapters). It will open with the story of Jill Mitchell, a light-skinned black and white biracial woman who experienced a dramatic change in workplace treatment after her supervisor discovered that his presumption that she was a mixed Hispanic white woman was erroneous. The chapter will delineate how Jill Mitchell’s story and the vast majority of cases filed entail allegations of non-white and specifically anti-black bias rather than prejudice rooted in hostility towards racial mixture itself. Moreover, the existing cases display judicial clarity in the administration of multiracial claimant allegations. The courts treat the claims as viable and apply anti-discrimination law in a conventional manner that permits claims to succeed unless the available evidence fails to meet legal standards. Additional onerous evidentiary burdens are not placed upon multiracial complainants. The chapter thus concludes that the cases do not justify the multiracial-identity scholar conjecture that multiracial claims are inadequately addressed.Less

Opening Up the Workplace: The Title VII Campaign

Richard A. Rosen and Joseph Mosnier

in Julius Chambers: A Life in the Legal Struggle for Civil Rights

This chapter describes the contributions of Julius Chambers and his partners, most particularly Robert Belton, to the LDF's national litigation campaign to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act ... More

This chapter describes the contributions of Julius Chambers and his partners, most particularly Robert Belton, to the LDF's national litigation campaign to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which new law outlawed racial discrimination in the workplace effective July 1965. In October 1965, Chambers filed the nation's first-ever Title VII suit, and soon after filed three additional cases which, when ultimately decided years later, substantially ended overt racial discrimination in American workplaces. These critical victories included Supreme Court triumphs in Griggs v. Duke Power (1971) and Albermarle Paper Co. v. Moody (1975), and the Fourth Circuit's Robinson v. Lorillard Corp. (1971). Griggs, recognized as the era's landmark employment ruling, established the "disparate impact" standard for adjudicating employers' use of "intelligence" tests and other pre-employment screening mechanisms. Together, Griggs, Moody, and Robinson did much to define the federal courts' interpretations of Title VII in a fashion that both opened workplaces to black job seekers and offered some compensatory remedy to those who had suffered under racially discriminatory workplace schemes. By these efforts, Chambers, his partners, and the LDF would leave the American workplace forever changed.Less

Exemptions from the Discrimination Laws Granted to Religious Organizations

Raymond F. Gregory

in Encountering Religion in the Workplace: The Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Workers and Employers

This chapter examines the Title VII exemptions from discrimination that are granted to religious organizations. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 exempts religious organizations from much of Title VII's ... More

This chapter examines the Title VII exemptions from discrimination that are granted to religious organizations. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 exempts religious organizations from much of Title VII's prohibition against employment discrimination on the basis of religion. Schools operated by religious organizations were granted their own exemption. Thus Title VII authorizes religious organizations and schools to use religious preferences—preferences that would otherwise be discriminatory—in the employment process. This chapter considers a number of court cases that highlight the conflict between the interest of government to eradicate religious discrimination in the workplace and the right of the church to manage its own affairs without governmental interference. It also explores a host of issues such as whether the Title VII exemptions allow a school that teaches a certain religious faith to discriminate against an employee of another faith solely because her conduct does not conform to the mores of the faith taught by the school.Less

Racial and Ethnic Economic Inequality: A Cross-National Perspective

William A. Darity Jr.

in Race, Poverty, and Domestic Policy

This chapter presents a cross-national survey of discrimination in market-based economies. It examines racial/ethnic economic inequality in Brazil, the United States, Israel, South Africa, India, ... More

This chapter presents a cross-national survey of discrimination in market-based economies. It examines racial/ethnic economic inequality in Brazil, the United States, Israel, South Africa, India, Malaysia, and Trinidad and Tobago. The chapter also elaborates on the persistence of racial/ethnic economic inequality generated by employment discrimination in markets worldwide.Less

Jim Crow, GM Crow

Andrew R. Highsmith

in Demolition Means Progress: Flint, Michigan, and the Fate of the American Metropolis

During and after World War II, officials from General Motors often boasted that Flint was a model city of industrial opportunity where all workers could obtain economic security and consumer ... More

During and after World War II, officials from General Motors often boasted that Flint was a model city of industrial opportunity where all workers could obtain economic security and consumer abundance. Likewise, leaders from the United Auto Workers union and members of the city’s liberal establishment routinely claimed that labor activism had helped to make Flint one of the most progressive cities in the nation. Yet for many African Americans, women, and others, the postwar decades were marked by widespread employment discrimination and workplace segregation. At mid-century, employers in the Vehicle City maintained a rigidly demarcated opportunity structure that severely limited the employment options for all but white men. In response, African Americans worked for a municipal fair employment practices law and waged a vigorous “Double V” campaign against job discrimination. As part of this direct action movement, local residents organized numerous boycotts of local businesses that practiced discrimination. During this period, black workers fought not only for access to better paying jobs, but also for the right to live in high-growth areas of suburban Genesee County. They faced strong opposition, however, from local employers, white union members, and ideologues of anti-communism.Less

Introduction

in The Macbride Principles: Irish America Strikes Back

This introductory begins a discussion of the close ties between the US and UK, and Irish-Americans' search for a proactive policy to embarrass the British government and influence its policy in ... More

This introductory begins a discussion of the close ties between the US and UK, and Irish-Americans' search for a proactive policy to embarrass the British government and influence its policy in Northern Ireland. Their efforts resulted in the MacBride Principles, a set of affirmative action fair employment precepts. US corporations with Northern Ireland subsidiaries were urged to adopt these principles, which were aimed at ending employment discrimination against Catholics.Less

Applications

Joseph Fishkin

in Bottlenecks: A New Theory of Equal Opportunity

This chapter demonstrates that opportunity pluralism can help us see new dimensions of and identify new proposals to ameliorate three especially difficult contemporary egalitarian policy problems. ... More

This chapter demonstrates that opportunity pluralism can help us see new dimensions of and identify new proposals to ameliorate three especially difficult contemporary egalitarian policy problems. Sections of the chapter cover (a) class and access to education, (b) workplace flexibility and work/family conflict, and (c) antidiscrimination law, particularly employment discrimination law. In all of these areas, it is possible to build a more open and porous opportunity structure in part by ameliorating bottlenecks.Less

Constructing Affirmative Action, 1970–1973

David Hamilton Golland

in Constructing Affirmative Action: The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity

A Puerto Rican and two African American trained steamfitters were rejected when they applied for “A Branch” journeyman membership. Since the union did not want to refer them to work, the Mechanical ... More

A Puerto Rican and two African American trained steamfitters were rejected when they applied for “A Branch” journeyman membership. Since the union did not want to refer them to work, the Mechanical Contractors' Association's (MCA) members all denied them jobs. The steamfitters of Local #629 had two grades — “A Branch” that encompassed specialized construction jobs and the “B Grade” that accounted for maintenance work. After an investigation pursued by the New York City Human Rights Commission, the A Branch hired its first black worker in 1967. While the Nixon administration only furthered the Philadelphia Plan for political purposes, this chapter reveals how Nixon neglected this support after gaining more power. The plan, however, survived and was able to integrate skilled construction unions successfully. Ultimately, employment discrimination persisted in skilled trades because of industry changes.Less

Basic Legal Rights

Kent Spriggs (ed.)

in Voices of Civil Rights Lawyers: Reflections from the Deep South, 1964–1980

Part 3 discusses the growth of basic legal rights. In the twenty-first century it can be hard to appreciate how remarkably welcoming the federal judiciary was to the claims of the civil rights ... More

Part 3 discusses the growth of basic legal rights. In the twenty-first century it can be hard to appreciate how remarkably welcoming the federal judiciary was to the claims of the civil rights movement. Part 3 includes chapter 7, “Access to Justice”; chapter 8, “Voting Rights and Political Representation”; chapter 9, “Public Accommodations”; chapter 10, “School Desegregation and Municipal Equalization”; and chapter 11, “Employment Discrimination.” Voting rights and political representation were key. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the portals for dramatic increases in black voter registration. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandated equal accommodation in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and other public places. Some applications of these rights were realized immediately, others not so much. This was the era in which the promise of the Supreme Court’s school desegregation decision became a reality in the Deep South. Desegregation suits proliferated. The Supreme Court dramatically increased the pace of desegregation. The varied forms of pushback were astonishing: the shutting down of a historic black high school lest white students have to attend (even at the expense of double sessions); the hiding of athletic trophies from the historic black high school upon merger; the suspension and expulsion of many black students at the moment of desegregation. The other major accomplishment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the ban on employment discrimination. At the time of its passage, job and labor union segregation were ubiquitous in the Deep South. This all changed.Less

From Black Power to Class Action: The International Association of Black Professional Firefighters and the Rise of Fire Department Discrimination Litigation

David Goldberg

in Black Firefighters and the FDNY: The Struggle for Jobs, Justice, and Equity in New York City

This chapter focuses on the influence that the Black Power movement and rise of employment discrimination litigation had on the Vulcan Society and Black firefighters across the country. The ... More

This chapter focuses on the influence that the Black Power movement and rise of employment discrimination litigation had on the Vulcan Society and Black firefighters across the country. The dialectical relationships between the civil rights and Black Power movements and the Vulcan Society’s old and new guard eventually transformed the organization and its objectives and helped facilitate the IABPFF, a national Black caucus group formed to combat discrimination and increase Black representation in — and community control of — urban fire departments. Both the IABPFF and the Vulcan Society embraced “separatism without separation,” and used their “outsider status within a white-dominated institution,” as well as shifts in employment discrimination case law, to “reveal the inner workings of institutional racism” within the FDNY and urban fire departments more generally. This shift was instrumental in the fight to establish legal remedies to address institutionalized racism and its impact on the racial composition of urban fire departments and became the primary method used by the Vulcan Society and the IABPFF and its local affiliates to make fire departments more representative of and responsive to the people and communities they servedLess