State and Case Law Relationship
There was a time in history when the nation was focused on the civil rights of all Americans and equal protection of the laws. The movement to stop cultural, racial and other forms of discrimination produced laws protecting workers against discrimination in the workplace. Through judicial decisions and legislation, several federal statutes that prohibit employment discrimination were implemented. The most important statute was Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin and gender. (Alexander & Hartman, 2003, chap. 3, p.1) The objective of this paper will be to present examples of employment law cases for the different employment discriminations and identify the statute or regulation for each case.
Race and National Origin
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees or job applicants on the basis of race or national origin. (Alexander & Hartman, 2003, chap. 6, p.1) If a company's policy for selecting or promoting employees have the effect of discriminating against employees or applicants on the basis of race or national origin, this is illegal unless the company can demonstrate a realistic qualification for the job in question. On August 11, 2004 the EEOC filed a lawsuit against Cracker Barrel after receiving allegations of race discrimination and racial harassment of African American employees. This case file was "EEOC v. Cracker Barrel Old Country" and was filed against the Matteson, Illinois restaurant under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Runkel, 2006) The director of the EEOC Chicago district office investigated the ...