Topic 2: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Flashcards
Adverse Job Action
A negative job action that results from an employee’s lawful actions.
BFOQ
(Bona Fide Occupational Qualification) Job requirement that an employee be a particular religion, sex, or national origin that is reasonably necessary to business operations. For instance, it is assumed that an opening for a Baptist minister at a local Baptist church would be filled by a minister who is actually a person who celebrates the Baptist religion and not, say, the Episcopal religion.
Back Pay
Monetary compensation for a plaintiff’s lost earnings.
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)
A reasonable employment qualification that an employer is allowed to consider when making decisions about hiring and retaining employees.
Business Necessity
A legitimate business purpose that justifies an employment decision as effective and necessary.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Enacted in 1964, it prohibits race discrimination in employment.
Comparative Evidence
Evidence of discrimination that is found by comparing two similarly situated employees who were treated differently because of a class characteristic.
Compensatory Damages
Monetary compensation necessary to replace a plaintiff’s losses.
Complaint
A formal allegation against a party
Direct Evidence
Real, clear evidence of discrimination that requires no inference or consideration to prove its existence.
Disparate Impact Discrimination
Discrimination in which a plaintiff claims not that the employer intentionally discriminated, but rather the employer’s procedures, policies, or practices have the effect of creating an unnecessary obstacle to employment opportunity for a protected class.
Disparate Treatment
Theory of discrimination based on different treatment given to individuals because of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability status.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
The federal agency that enforces federal anti-discrimination laws and oversees all federal equal opportunity in employment regulations.
Four-fifths Rule
The simplest and most common way of estimating adverse impact by ruling a screening device as discriminatory if its selection rates of a protected class are less than 80% of the majority.
Front Pay
Monetary compensation in lieu of reinstatement.
Hostile Work Environment
As defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a work environment in which an individual or individuals are subjected to a pattern of harassment “when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.”
Injunctive Relief
A court order that prohibits a defendant from certain actions.
Intelligence Tests
Standardized assessments designed to assess human ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations.
Pattern and Practice
When an employer’s policies have the effect of discrimination for no legitimate business necessity.
Pretext
A false excuse used by an employer to cover up for discrimination.
Prima Facie
(Latin for “at first sight”) Evidence based on the first impression.
Punitive Damages
Monetary damages designed to punish an employer who acted maliciously or recklessly.
Rebuttal
The action of contradicting or opposing by formal legal argument, plea, or countervailing proof. In this step the plaintiff responds to the employer during an EEOC discrimination claim hearing.
Reinstatement
A remedy in which a former employee returns to his or her job.
Remedies
A desired action resulting from a successful lawsuit.
Retaliation Claim
A complaint filed by an employee who feels he or she was discriminated against in violation of the law.
