The Civil Rights Act

 

By Albert L. Kelley

 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was created to eliminate discrimination based on race, color; religion, sex and national origin. The law applies to discriminatory treatment where the employer treats some employees less favorably because they belong to one of the enumerated classes (called disparate treatment). It also protects from discriminatory impact where a neutral practice has the result of impacting one of the protected groups (called disparate impact). Under disparate treatment, the employer has a defense if he did not intend to discriminate. This defense is not available under the disparate impact theory.

 

 

The Civil Rights Act is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The procedures for filing a charge are not easy. Once a complaint has been made, it is forwarded to an office of the EEOC. The employee must then wait 60 days. During this time, the EEOC investigates and tries to reach an agreement between the parties. If an agreement cannot be reached, the EEOC gives the employee a “right to sue” letter. Only then may a lawsuit be filed charging discriminatory practices. But the lawsuit must be filed within 90 days. Damages include compensatory damages (including back pay) and are not included in computation of gross income for tax purposes.

 

 

Before employers start panicking and employees start running to the courthouse, you should know that the Civil Rights Act does not apply to every business. To fall under the requirements of the Civil Rights Act, a business must affect interstate commerce and employ 15 or more individuals for at least 20 weeks during the current or previous calendar year. The question about the number of employees is pretty easy to calculate-just count the number of employees at any given time. If the maximum exceeds 15 employees over a 20 week period, then you must look to the next step.

 

 

When does a business affect interstate commerce? Let’s say there is a local souvenir business in Key West with 21 employees. All of their souvenirs are made by local artisans, sold within the store, and there is an absolute policy against employing minorities. What recourse would an African American or Hispanic applicant have against such a business? They would have to look to state law, because the Civil Rights Act would not apply. However, if a souvenir store next door shipped items to patrons outside of Florida, or if they shipped merchandise from artisans located outside of Florida, or if they advertise their goods in publications that go outside of Florida, they would be subject to the Civil Rights Act. Two seemingly identical businesses, covered by different sets of laws.

 

 

The Civil Rights Act only applies to certain classes of people-it is not all-inclusive. The law only applies to discrimination based on race, color; religion, sex and national origin. It does not include age discrimination, handicap discrimination or sexual orientation discrimination. This does not mean there aren’t laws that protect these categories; just not the Civil Rights Act. We will be discussing these categories in more detail in the next few columns.

 

 

Al Kelley is a Florida business law attorney located in Key West and previously taught business law, personnel law and labor law at St. Leo University. He is also the author of “Basics of Business Law” and “Basics of Florida’s Small Claims Court” (Absolutely Amazing e-Books). This article is being offered as a public service and is not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have any questions about legal issues, you should confer with a licensed Florida attorney.

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