'Working Wounded': What Is Title VII?

ByABC News
August 14, 2003, 2:44 PM

— -- D E A R R E A D E R S: Recently, a British ad agency paid students $20 to walk around in public for three hours with a logo temporarily tattooed on their foreheads.

Those ads worked because something written on someone's forehead is hard to miss. It also brings into play once of the reasons it can be so challenging to hire an employee you've got to look past all that's hard to miss (their race, color, sex, etc.).

In the United States, protection from workplace discrimination is covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. You may be surprised at how many workers are covered by it. Title VII is the third most important workplace law in our series. (Last week we covered the fourth most important workplace law, the OSH Act.)

For an employee, Title VII is there to ensure they have the fairest opportunity for employment. For an employer, ignoring or skirting the title can be costly.

In 2002, more than 61,000 charges alleging violations under Title VII were filed, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. While only a mild increase from the 55,000 in 1992, the amount awarded to plaintiffs nearly tripled, from $52.5 million in 1992 to $141.7 million last year. Plus, there's the untold damage to productivity and morale when such situations arise.

Employers, I've included everything you need to know to stay on the right side of Title VII below. For more, check out The Employer's Legal Handbook by Fred Steingold (Nolo Press, 2003).

Inside Title VII

Who is covered under Title VII?

Any company with more than 15 employees (full- or part-time).

What does Title VII require?

You can't use race, religion, color, sex, national origin or pregnancy as a basis for hiring, firing, compensation and benefits, job assignments, employee classification, transfer, promotion, layoff or recall, training, use of company facilities, retirement plan or leave.

Are their any exceptions to the law?

Yes, there are bona fide occupational qualifications (BFOQ). Steingold gives an example of a company hiring someone to work in a men's room. It's reasonable in this situation to limit the job to only male applicants (unless the bathroom is in Ally McBeal's old law firm). On the other hand, the courts ruled that age is not a BFOQ for being a flight attendant, because a 45-year-old applicant could do the same job as a 25-year-old applicant. If you are claiming a BFOQ, be sure there is a very good reason.