Federal Employment (Title VII)

Federal Employment (Title VII)

A. Citation: 42 U.S.C. §2000e et seq.

B. Protected Characteristics: Race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

C. Key Definitions:

§2000e(b) (Employer): “a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce… and any agent of such a person” with exceptions listed under “defenses.”
§2000e(f) (Employee): “an individual employed by an employer”, including citizens of the U.S. employed in foreign countries, with an exception for certain state government workers listed under “defenses.”
§2000e(j) (Religion): “includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business.”
§2000e(k) (Sex): Employment decisions “on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” are decisions made “because of sex.” “…[W]omen affected by [these] conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes, including receipt of [fringe] benefits… as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work….”.

Operative Provisions

§2000e-2(a)(1): Unlawful “to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of” a protected characteristic.
§2000e-2(a)(2): Unlawful “to limit, segregate, or classify … employees or applicants for employment in any way which would … tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or … adversely affect his status as an employee, because of” a protected characteristic.
§2000e-2(d):Unlawful to discriminate because of a protected characteristic “in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or other training.”
§2000e-2(l): Unlawful to “adjust the scores of, use different cutoff scores for, or otherwise alter the results of, employment related tests on the basis of” a protected characteristic.
§2000e-3(a): Unlawful to discriminate against employees, applicants, and participants in training programs, because they have “opposed any practice made … unlawful [by Title VII] or … made a charge, … assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under [Title VII].

§2000e-3(b): Unlawful to advertise or issue a notice with respect to employment or participation in a training program “indicating any preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination, based on” a protected characteristic unless the characteristic is a bona fide occupational qualification.

Accommodations: §2000e(j): Incorporated in the definition of “religion” listed above.
Defenses:

1 Religious:

§2000e-1(a) (Religious Organizations): Title VII does not apply to “a religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on … of its activities.”
§2000e-2(e)(1) (Bona Fide Occupational Qualification): Employment related decisions “on the basis of his religion, sex, or national origin” do not violate Title VII where the characteristic in question “is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise….”
§2000e-2(e)(2) (Religious Educational Organization): An educational institution does not violate Title VII by hiring employees of a particular religion if it “is, in whole or in substantial part, owned, supported, controlled, or managed by a particular religion or [religious organization] or if [its] curriculum …is directed toward the propagation of a particular religion.”

2. Related:

§2000e(b) (Minimum Size): Statute doesn’t apply to employers with fewer than fifteen “employeesfor each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.”
§2000e(b)(2) (Private Club): Statute doesn’t apply to “a bona fide private membership club (other than a labor organization) which is exempt from taxation.”
§2000e(k) (Abortion Health Benefits): It is not sex discrimination for an employer to refuse “to pay for health insurance benefits for abortion, except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or except where medical complications have arisen from an abortion.”
§2000e-2(i) (Indian Reservation Residents): Title VII does not apply to “any business or enterprise on or near an Indian reservation with respect to any publicly announced employment practice … under which a preferential treatment is given to any individual because he is an Indian living on or near a reservation.”

3. General:

§2000e(b)(1) (Federal Employers): “Employer” under the statute doesn’t include the U.S. government, Indian tribes, or to District of Columbia government organizations governed by “competitive service” requirements.
§2000e(f) (State Elected Officials and Their Staff): “Employee” under the statute doesn’t include elected officials of the states or their subdivisions, or their personal staff and policy advisors, unless those employees are subject to state or local civil service laws.

§2000e-1(a) (Aliens Outside U.S.) Title VII doesn’t apply “to an employer with respect to the employment of aliens outside any State….”
§2000e-1(b) (Violations of Foreign Law). An employer does not have to comply with §§2000e-2 and e-3 "with respect to an employee in a workplace in a foreign country if compliance with [the statute] would cause [the] employer … to violate the law of the foreign country in which [the] workplace is located.”
§2000e-2(f) (Communists): It does not violate Title VII to take any action “with respect to an individual who is a member of the Communist Party of the United States or of any other organization required to register as a Communist-action or Communist-front organization by final order of the Subversive Activities Control Board pursuant to the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950.”
§2000e-2(g) (Nat’l Security): Not unlawful to refuse to hire or to fire an employee if the job requires a security clearance under federal law and the employee has not obtained or has ceased to have the necessary clearance.

§2000e-2(h) (Seniority/Merit): Not unlawful to treat employees differently with regard to compensation and terms of employment where “pursuant to a bona fide seniority or merit system… or to employees who work in different locations, provided that such differences are not the result of an intention to discriminate because of [a protectged characteristic].”
§2000e-2(h) (Ability Test): Not unlawful “for an employer to give and to act upon the results of any professionally developed ability test provided that such test, its administration or action upon the results is not designed, intended or used to discriminate because of [a protectged characteristic].”

§2000e-2(j) (Percent Imbalance): Nothing in Title VII shall be interpreted to require an employer “to grant preferential treatment to any individual or to any group because of [a protected characteristic] on account of an imbalance which may exist with respect to the total number or percentage of persons of [that protected characteristic] employed by [the] employer … in comparison with the total number or percentage of persons of” that protected characteristic located in, or in “the available workforce” in a particular geographic area.
§2000e-11 (Veterans’ Rights): Nothing in Title VII changes “any Federal, State, territorial, or local law creating special rights or preference for veterans.”

Alaska Employment, Housing and Public Accommodations

A. Citation: Alaska Statutes §18.80.200 et seq. (18.80. …)

B. Protected Characteristics: Sex, physical or mental disability, marital status, changes in marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, race, religion, color, and national origin.

C. Key Definitions

§300 (1) (Blockbusting): The practice where real estate professionals, to obtain a financial benefit for themselves or their employers, induce real estate transactions by representing “directly or indirectly that a change has occurred or will or may occur [in the] composition with respect to race, religion, color, or national origin of the owners or occupants of the … area in which the real property is located, and … that this change may or will result in undesirable consequences in the … area …, including but not limited to the lowering of property values, an increase in criminal or antisocial behavior, or decline in the quality of the schools or other facilities.”
§300 (4) (Employee): “[A]n individual employed by an employer” unless employed in “domestic service.”
§300 (5) (Employer): An entity (including the state and local governments) with “one or more employees in the state,” with an exception for private organizations listed under “defenses.”
§300 (16) (Public Accommodation): A place that “offers its services, goods, or facilities to the general public … subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons.” This definition “includes a public inn, restaurant, eating house, hotel, motel, soda fountain, soft drink parlor, tavern, night club, roadhouse, place where food or spiritous or malt liquors are sold for consumption, trailer park, resort, campground, barber shop, beauty parlor, bathroom, resthouse, theater, swimming pool, skating rink, golf course, cafe, ice cream parlor, transportation company, and all other public amusement and business establishments….”
§300 (17) (Real Property): Any interest in existing or planned “building[s] or portion[s] of … building[s], … structures, real estate, lands, tenements, leaseholds, … real estate cooperatives, condominiums, and hereditaments….”

D. Operative Provisions

1. Employment

§220 (a) (1): Unlawful for “an employer to refuse employment to a person, or to bar a person from employment, or to discriminate against a person in compensation or in a term, condition, or privilege of employment
because of the person's race, religion, color, or national origin, or
because of the person's age, physical or mental disability, sex, marital status, changes in marital status, pregnancy, or parenthood when the reasonable demands of the position do not require distinction on the basis of [those characteristics].”
§220(a)(3): Unlawful for an employer to use an advertisement or application form or to “make an inquiry in connection with prospective employment, that expresses, directly or indirectly, a limitation, specification, or discrimination as to [a protected characteristic] , or an intent to make the limitation, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification”
§220(a)(4): Unlawful “to discharge, expel, or otherwise discriminate against a person … because the person has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in a proceeding under this chapter”
§220(a)(5): Unlawful “to discriminate in the payment of wages as between the sexes, or to employ a female in an occupation in this state at a salary or wage rate less than that paid to a male employee for work of comparable character”
§220(a)(6): Unlawful for “a person to [make or use] a statement, inquiry, or advertisement in connection with prospective employment that expresses directly a limitation, specification, or discrimination as to [a protected characteristic] unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification.”

2. Housing

§240(1) Unlawful “to refuse to sell, lease, or rent the real property to a person because of” a protected characteristic except for housing designated by marital status as described in defenses below.
§240(2): Unlawful “to discriminate against a person because of [a protected characteristic] in a term, condition, or privilege relating to” a real property transaction, except for housing designated by marital status as described in defenses below.
§240(3) Unlawful “to make [an] inquiry or record of [a protected characteristic] of a person seeking to buy, lease, or rent real property;

§240(4) Unlawful “to offer, solicit, accept, use, or retain a listing of real property with the understanding that a person may be discriminated against in a real estate transaction … because of [a protected characteristic].

§240(5) Unlawful “to represent to a person that real property is not available for inspection, sale, rental, or lease when in fact it is so available, or to refuse to allow a person to inspect real property because of [a protected characteristic] of that person or of any person associated with that person.
§240(6): Unlawful “to engage in blockbusting” as defined above.
§240(7): Substantially the same as FHA §3604(c).

3. Public Accommodations

§230 (a) (1): Unlawful to deny to a person the “services, goods, [or] facilities” of a public accommodation because of [a protected characteristic].

§230 (a) (2): Unlawful to advertise or circulate a written notice “that states or implies (A) that any of the services, goods, [or] facilities… of the public accommodation will be … denied to a person of a certain [protected characteristic], or (B) that the patronage of a person belonging to a particular [protected characteristic] is unwelcome…”.

4. All Three

§260: Unlawful “for a person to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of an act forbidden under [Alaska Statutes §18.80.200 et seq.] or to attempt to do so.”

E. Accommodations: None

F. Defenses:

1. Religious:

§220 (a)(1) (3) & (6)(Employment: Bona Fide Occupational Qualification): These operative provisions all have exceptiond for BFOQ (see specific language above).
§300 (5) (Employment: Non-Profit Private Organization): The definition of “employer” excludes social clubs and” fraternal, charitable, educational, or religious” organizations, if the club or organization “is not organized for private profit.”

2. Related:

§230 (b) (Public Accommodations: Fitness Facilities):Not unlawful for “physical fitness facility [to limit access] to only males or only females to protect the privacy interests of its users… to those rooms in the facility that are primarily used for weight loss, aerobic, and other exercises, or for resistance weight training.” Exception does not apply “to rooms in the facility primarily used for other purposes, including conference rooms [and] dining rooms… [or] to swimming pools or golf courses.”
§240 (1) & (2) (Housing: Housing Designated by Marital Status): “[C]lasses of real property commonly known as housing for ‘singles’ or ‘married couples’ only” do not violate §240(1) and (2). [MAF: I’m not clear what this refers to; housing for singles olnly might violate federal FHA familial status provision unless single parents are clearly welcome.]
§300(4) (Employment: Domestic Service): Definition of “employee” above excludes “domestic service.”

Connecticut Employment

Citation: Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. §46a-51 et seq.
Protected Characteristics: “race, color, religious creed, age, sex, marital status, national origin, ancestry, present or past history of mental disability, mental retardation, learning disability or physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness”
Key Definitions
§ 46a-51 (6): Discrimination: “includes segregation and separation”
§ 46a-51 (7):Discriminatory Employment Practice: “means any discriminatory practice specified in section 46a-60 or 46a-81c”
§ 46a-51 (8): Discriminatory Practice: “means a violation of section 4a-60, 4a-60a, 4a-60g, 46a-58, 46a-59, 46a-60, 46a-64, 46a-64c, 46a-66, 46a-68, 46a-68c to 46a-68f, inclusive, or 46a-70 to 46a-78, inclusive, subsection (a) of section 46a-80 or sections 46a-81b to 46a-81o, inclusive”
§ 46a-51 (9): Employee:” means any person employed by an employer” except “any individual employed by such individual's parents, spouse or child, or in the domestic service of any person”

§ 46a-51 (10): Employer:” includes the state and all political subdivisions thereof and means any person or employer with three or more persons in such person's or employer's employ”
§ 46a-51 (17):Discrimination on the basis of sex: “includes but is not limited to discrimination related to pregnancy, child-bearing capacity, sterilization, fertility or related medical conditions”
§ 46a-51 (18): Discrimination on the basis of religious creed:”includes but is not limited to discrimination related to all aspects of religious observances and practice as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that the employer is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business”

Operative Provisions:
§ 46a-60 (a) (1): It is unlawful for an employer or his or her agent (with the exception of a bona fide occupational qualification or need) to “refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge from employment any individual or to discriminate against such individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment” because of the individual’s protected status (see above).
§ 46a-60 (a) (4): It is unlawful “for any person, employer, labor organization or employment agency” to discriminate (by discharging, etc.) against any person because he/she opposed any discriminatory employment practice or “has filed a complaint or testified or assisted in any proceeding under section 46a-82, 46a-83 or 46a-84”
§ 46a-60 (a) (5): It is unlawful “for any person, whether an employer or an employee or not, to aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any act declared to be a discriminatory employment practice or to attempt to do so”
§ 46a-60 (a) (6): It is unlawful for any person or employer (without BFOQ or need) to advertise employment opportunities in a manner discriminatory of the above protected characteristics.
§ 46a-60 (a) (9): It is unlawful ” for an employer or its agent “to request or require information from an employee, person seeking employment or member relating to the individual's child-bearing age or plans, pregnancy, function of the individual's reproductive system, use of birth control methods, or the individual's familial responsibilities” There are exceptions for BFOQs or needs and when exposure to something in the work environment could lead to birth defects.
Accommodations
§ 46-51 (18): See definition of “discrimination on the basis of religious creed” above.
Defenses

Religious
§ 46a-60 (a) (1): BFOQ defense, see above.
§ 46a-60 (a) (6): BFOQ defense, see above.
§ 46a-60 (a) (9):BFOQ defense, see above.
Related:
§ 46a-51 (9): See definition of “employee” above.
§ 46a-51 (10) See definition of “employer” above.
General: None

Delaware Employment

Citation: 19 Del.C. § 710 et seq.
Protected Characteristics: race, marital status, genetic information, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and national origin
Key Definitions

§ 710 (5): Employee: means “an individual employed by an employer” not including individuals employed “in agriculture or in the domestic service of any person,” by the individual whose home they are residing in as part of his or her employment, or by parent spouse, or child. Also doesn’t include elected public officials or “any individual elected to public office in the State or political subdivision…,“any person chosen by such officer to be on such officer's personal staff,” an “appointee on the policy making level,” or “an immediate advisor with respect to the exercise of the constitutional or legal powers of the office” (doesn’t include “employees subject to the merit service rules or civil service rules of the state government or political subdivision)
§ 710 (6): Employer: “means any person employing 4 or more employees within the State at the time of the alleged violation, including the State or any political subdivision or board, department, commission or school district thereof. The term “employer” with respect to discriminatory practices based upon sexual orientation does not include religious corporations, associations or societies whether supported, in whole or in part, by government appropriations, except where the duties of the employment or employment opportunity pertain solely to activities of the organization that generate unrelated business taxable income subject to taxation under § 511(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.”
§ 710 (9): Job related and consistent with business activity: “means the condition in question renders the individual unable to perform the essential functions of the position that such individual holds or desires. This includes situations in which the individual poses a direct threat to the health or safety of the individual or others in the workplace.”
§ 710 (15): Religion: “includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that the employer is unable to reasonably accommodate an employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business”
§ 710 (18): Sexual orientation: “exclusively means heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.”

Operative Provisions:
§ 711 (a) (1): An employer may not “fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment” because of an individual’s protected characteristic (listed above).
§ 711 (a) (2): An employer may not” limit, segregate or classify employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect the individual's status as an employee” because of the individual’s protected characteristic (listed above).
§ 711 (d): It is unlawful for any “employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling training” to discriminate against any person because of a protected characteristic (listed above).
§ 711 (f): It is unlawful for the persons listed in the above provisions to discriminate based on an individual’s protected characteristic (see above) or “because such person has opposed any practice prohibited by this subchapter” or because “participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing to enforce the provisions of this subchapter.”
Accommodations:
§ 710 (15): See definition of religion above.

Defenses

Religious
§ 711 (g) (1): Except where indicated otherwise in this section, it is unlawful for an employer to hire and employ employees based on a protected characteristic (see above) unless it is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary for conducting business normally.
§ 711 (g) (2): Except where otherwise indicted in this section, it is not unlawful employment practice for a “school, college, university or other educational institution or institution of learning to hire and employ employees of a particular religion” if such institution, “in whole or in substantial part, owned, supported, controlled or managed by a particular religion or by a particular religious corporation, association or society or if the curriculum of such school, college, university or other educational institution or institution of learning is directed toward the propagation of a particular religion.”
Related
§ 710 (5) (a): See definition of “employee” above.
§ 710 (6): See definition of “employer” above.
§ 711 (k): “Nothing in this subchapter shall be interpreted to require employers to offer health, welfare, pension or other benefits to persons associated with employees on the basis as such benefits are afforded to the spouses of married employees.”
General
§ 710 (5) (d): See definition of “employee” above.
§ 717: This chapter should not be interpreted to change any state or local laws concerning veterans’ rights or preferences.

Georgia Housing