HR Law Overview: ADEA, Civil Rights Act, Drug-Free Workplace, and EEPA
Joe Lehocky, SHRM-SCP
Vice President | Recruitment Lead | Resume Writer (1000+ Completed/Reviewed) | Talent Management | HR Business Partner | Guest Speaker/Presenter | Learning and Development
This post continues my previous one about important laws for HR Professionals. To review, I spoke about the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), American with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). This section will discuss four more laws and how they impact the HR practice.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
This law “protects certain applicants and employees 40 years of age or older from discrimination on the basis of age in hiring, promotion, discharge, compensation, or teams, conditions or privileges of employment” (US Department of Labor, para 2, 2020). The law is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an organization that “enforces federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against job applicant or an employee” (EEOC, para 1, 2020). Though this law and the EEOC has been in effect for an extended period, organizations still discriminate against employees based on age. Many individuals report that they have experienced or know someone who has experienced age discrimination and employers discriminate against both men and women, particularly closer to retirement age (64-66) and more often retirement age women (Neumark, Burn, & Button, 2017; Olen, 2019; Employment and Discrimination, 2019). Thus, ADEA and the EEOC are highly important in society to advocate for equitable treatment towards people of different age groups throughout the employment process.
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Civil Rights Act of 1991
This is a landmark case prohibiting discrimination against individuals based on their “race, color, religion, or national origin” (Civil Rights Act, 2020). This law has several different components, but Title VII applies to employment. Title VII discusses protected classes, or identities that cannot be used in demographic decisions, including pregnancy, age, ethnicity, national origin, sex, religion, or race (Swartz Swidler, 2020) that are protected in their job search and employment with respective organizations. Companies with at least 15 employees must comply with the Title VII Act.
There are three main areas of discrimination: Disparate Impact, Disparate Treatment, and Harassment (Gregg, 2017).
Disparate Impact-A law that is neutral in appearance but has a discriminatory impact on an employee. This came from Greggs v. Duke Power case, which will be discussed in a later article.
Disparate Treatment-This is apparent mistreatment of an employee/applicant in a protected class due to their social identity.
Harassment- This is “unwelcome conduct from (one individual) whose actions, communication, or behavior mocks, demeans, puts down, disparages, or ridicules an employee” (Heathfield, para 1, 2019).
Note: Retaliation-This occurs when an “employer punishes an employee for engaging in legally protected action” (Guerin, 2020). Retaliation can include disciplining an employee, providing a negative performance evaluation, threatening, humiliating, etc. (EEOC, 2020)
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 was a continuation of Civil Rights Act of 1964. It "offers a jury by trial option in discrimination cases" (UpCounsel, para 2, 2020) and "the complaining party may recover compensatory and punitive damages" (EEOC, 2020). This federal law provides further rights to individuals who are potential victims of discrimination (US Legal, 2019).
Drug-Free Workplace Act
This law, passed in 1988, “requires many federal contractors and grantees to maintain drug-free workplaces to receive contracts or grants from a specific federal agency” (Tomo, para 2, 2016). The law has several requirements for employers, including posting an Employee Notice, company policy, and resources for drug abuse/misuse (PNWC, 2016). It is important to follow through on each to ensure an organization complies with the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 (US Code, n.d.)
Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)
This law, passed in 1988, prevents employers from using lie detectors during the pre-employment and employment process (APA, 2015). There are a few exceptions to this law, for example “certain employees of private firms who are reasonably suspected of involvement in a workplace incident that resulted in specific economic loss or injury to the employer” (DOL, para 1, 2020).
Bio:
Joseph Lehocky is a Human Resources Professional with 5+ years leadership experience in the education, non-profit, and manufacturing sector. He graduated from Rowan University with a Bachelor of Arts, Public Relations (Minor in Advertising) and Master of Arts in Counseling in Educational Settings, and Quinnipiac University with a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership. Joseph’s professional passions include recruitment/talent acquisition, learning and development, and strategic planning.
Sources
https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/discrimination/agedisc
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/preventing-age-discrimination-at-work-525696
https://www.nber.org/papers/w21669.pdf
https://swartz-legal.com/employment-law-resources/protected-classes-title-vii/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEb7tUySdkY
https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-harassment-1917918
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/workplace-retaliation-employee-rights-30217.html
https://pacificnwc.blogspot.com/2016/03/what-does-drug-free-workplace-clause.html
https://www.yourdrugtesting.com/drug-free-workplace-act/
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:41%20chapter:81%20edition:prelim)%20
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/polygraph
https://www.polygraph.org/employee-polygraph-protection-act-eppa-
https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/civil-rights-act-1991