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Title VII Turns 60
Jul 30, 2024 10:43:33 AM
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law 60 years ago this month. Signed into law by President Johnson the same day the bill was sent to him, this act was a significant piece of legislation that protects workers from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
In addition to creating these rights, Title VII created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce these rights. The EEOC has a five-member, bipartisan commission. The law provides that the Commissioners, no more than three of whom may be from the same political party, are appointed to five-year terms by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Chairman of the agency appoints the General Counsel.
The EEOC was to open its doors for business on July 2, 1965 - one year after Title VII's enactment into law. It was projected in its first year that EEOC would receive approximately 2,000 charges. Instead, the EEOC received 8,852 charges and started a backlog. In its first year, Title VII applied to employers with 100 or more employees, with coverage phased in over the next three years to reach employers with as few as 25 or more employees.
Title VII has been amended over the decades:
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 gave the EEOC the authority to litigate; further reduced the number of employees an employer needed to have to be covered by Title VII from 25 to 15; and extended the timeframe charging parties have to file charges.
- The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 amended Title VII by explicitly affirming that discrimination based on pregnancy or related medical conditions is considered sex discrimination.
- The Civil Rights Act of 1991 was signed into law and amended Title VII, as well as the ADEA and ADA, to allow parties to request jury trials and recover compensatory and punitive damages in cases.
- The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 amended Title VII to say that every paycheck involving discriminatory compensation is a separate violation.
In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is not permitted under Title VII. In 2023, the Supreme Court held that Title VII requires an employer that denies a religious accommodation to show that the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business. Also last year, the Supreme Court held that employees challenging a job transfer do not need to show the transfer caused “significant” harm.
With headquarters in Washington, D.C., and 53 field offices nationwide, the EEOC is the Federal Government's premier civil rights agency. In the 2023 fiscal year, the EEOC received 81,055 new charges of discrimination, a more than 10% increase over the number of charges filed the previous year. The EEOC also reported that it recovered $665 million for workers, a $152 million increase over the previous year and the largest fiscal year recovery in the agency’s history. The White House has proposed raising the EEOC’s budget by $33 million in fiscal year 2025 to help the agency tackle new issues stemming from artificial intelligence and the newly enacted Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
Title VII is an active area of employment law today and applies to all types of work situations, including hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, and compensation. For guidance on Title VII, or if you receive a discrimination charge, reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant.
