According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions website, for a workplace discrimination case to proceed a worker must prove that there was unfair treatment because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. A news article from the Washington Post printed on Tuesday, August 1. 2006 details a U.S. EEOC workplace lawsuit for sex discrimination by Fox News Network. The case was settled a little more than a year after it was filed in November 2005. $225,000 was divided among four women who claimed that women were assigned to freelance positions within the advertising and promotion department. The position included fewer benefits, less advancement potential and lower job security than other positions. The settlement did not only encompass monetary reward but included a stipulation that the company train workers on discrimination law. The company maintained its position of having done no wrongdoing in the matter according to the article.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991, The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) and The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) are all federal laws created to protect individuals from discrimination in the workplace in the United States. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 provides monetary damages in cases where it is found that employment discrimination was intentional. One example of this would be a Chinese employer terminating an African-American employee and not a Chinese employee because of racial preference when they both violated the same company rule. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 protects both men and women performing similarly equal work in the same workplace from wage discrimination that is sex-based. An example of a violation of this law would be paying a man $20 less per hour than a woman who holds the same position and longevity within the company. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protects men and women who are age 40 or older from being discriminated against for that reason. An example that falls under this law would be terminating a 56 year old person because the management fears their age may not attract the younger customer to their place of business.
The U.S. EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex