Major Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Laws Have Attempted To Correct Social
ID: 399214 • Letter: M
Question
Major Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Laws Have Attempted To Correct Social Problems Of ... Question: Major federal equal employment opportunity laws have attempted to correct social problems of inte... Major federal equal employment opportunity laws have attempted to correct social problems of interest to particular groups of workers, called protected classes. Defined broadly, these include individuals of a minority race, women, older people, and those with physical or mental disabilities. Separate federal laws cover each of these classes. Choose one of the Federal laws listed below and summarize that law, including when it took effect, the implications of the law, protections under the law, and to whom it applies. Also, indicate any recommendation you would have for changing or improving that current law.
a) Equal Pay Act of 1963
b) Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964
c) Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
d) Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
e) Civil Rights Act of 1991
f) Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994
Explanation / Answer
Equal Pay Act of 1963
The Equal Pay Act(EPA) of 1963 is a labor law in the United States which came as an amendment to the Fair Labor standards Act. The basic aim of the act was to remove any disparity in the wage or remuneration based on gender. It was ratified into a law on the 10th of June, 1963 by John F Kennedy as a part of his New Frontier Program. The Congress stated that Gender discrimination had several consequences like:
- It depressed the wages and the standard of living of employees which would have an adverse effect on its health and well-being
- Improper utilization of the labor resources
- Unnecessary labor disputes and obstruction in the work
- Impacts the overall Supply of the industry as a whole
- Creates an unfair method of competition
The EPA made provisions within establishments to prevent any discrimination between employees on the basis of the gender. It wanted to ensure that no employee is paid wages at a rate less than what is paid to the employees of the opposite gender for any work which requires similar skill, effort or responsibility under a similar working condition. However, it kept in place a differential method based on other factors like seniority or merit system or any other system apart from the difference in gender.
The law has had a great effect on the salaries of the American women, who have seen their salaries rise considerably relative to the men’s since the enactment of the EPA. The lawmakers have quoted figures that in the year 1979, the women’s earning was 62.3% of that of men’s, and it had come up to 80.4% in the year 2004.
I strongly believe that the EPA was revolutionary law enacted to reduce all gender based pay disparity that was widely prevalent in the industry then. However, some aspects of the same were still unexplored as it originally did not cover administrators, outside salespeople and cover executives. They were later drafted in by the Education Amendments of 1972. Also the EPA could not really demarcate the blue collar jobs, dominated by men and had overtime payments in cash, from the white collar jobs for the women that is often exempted from overtime laws. The aspect of individual choice was somewhat missed in the EPA.
Related Questions
drjack9650@gmail.com
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.